Tom Burgis
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tomburgis.bsky.social
Tom Burgis
@tomburgis.bsky.social
Investigations correspondent for The Guardian. Bestselling author of Kleptopia, Cuckooland and The Looting Machine. The truth will out, it just sometimes takes a while.

Stories: theguardian.com/profile/tom-burgis
Books: tomburgis.com
That’s a good point but all have consented to us running the pictures (and James Coussey has died). You can find more about the private intelligence firms in the articles.
August 10, 2025 at 11:56 AM
The @theguardian.com is investigating this secretive surveillance industry. Its operations extend from hunting down domestic abuse victims to gigs for Russia, China and other hostile powers.

Do you have information we should know? Reach me here tomburgis.com/about or send a secure message: (8/8)
How to contact the Guardian securely
Some of the most important stories published by the Guardian have come from confidential tips. If you have something sensitive to share with us, here’s how to get in touch
www.theguardian.com
August 10, 2025 at 9:44 AM
These are just a handful of the surveillance operations taking place all around us every day in secret. For state agencies, there are strict rules. For private operatives, not so much... (7/8)

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
Is surveillance by private operators legal in the UK?
Although laws govern state agencies, there is no equivalent for private spies who are free to follow people around
www.theguardian.com
August 10, 2025 at 9:44 AM
This time the client was a multinational salmon-farming corporation. Its unnamed owners were led by a moneyman who made his fortune in Moscow. (6/8)

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
Revealed: spies for hire used ‘Big Brother’ tactics on salmon farm activists
Guardian investigation sheds light on private intelligence industry that runs covert surveillance operations
www.theguardian.com
August 10, 2025 at 9:44 AM
And another target: Don Staniford. Like Corin Smith, an activist exposing what goes on in Scottish salmon farms. (5/8)
August 10, 2025 at 9:44 AM
The spy firm - ex-Para Damian Ozenbrook's Blue Square Global - says its work is lawful and proper.

Here’s another target. Corin Smith. He documents horrific conditions at Scottish salmon farms. He believes he was with his young child when this surveillance picture was taken. (4/8)
August 10, 2025 at 9:44 AM
The spies' client? Oligarchs whose business affairs were under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. As Andy Slaughter, the chair of parliament’s justice committee, puts it: “The hunter has become the hunted.” @hammersmithandy.bsky.social (3/8)

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Revealed: oligarchs spied on UK lawyers who ran Serious Fraud Office cases
The Guardian has obtained surveillance images taken by hired spies whose goal is said to have been identifying sources and gaining ‘leverage’
www.theguardian.com
August 10, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Here’s a picture the spies took of Tom Martin. Like Coussey, a lawyer who had run some of the Serious Fraud Office’s most sensitive financial crime cases. (2/8)
August 10, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Reposted by Tom Burgis
In the U.K. @tomburgis.bsky.social & Maeve McClenaghan revealed how an online campaign urged far right to attack China’s opponents in UK www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Revealed: online campaign urged far right to attack China’s opponents in UK
Social media incitement following last summer’s riots appears to be new tactic against Hong Kong exiles
www.theguardian.com
April 28, 2025 at 12:13 PM