The digital detectives preserving the truth of war | Hadi Al Khatib

Elise Hu (0:00)

A heads up before we begin, this episode includes discussion of war crimes and violence against civilians. Please take care in deciding whether and when to listen.

Hadi Al Khatib (0:10)

If we don't verify and archive information published by citizens, we are at least of losing the truth, of losing the history.

Elise Hu (0:24)

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu.

Digital evidence technologist Hadi Al Khatib has spent more than a decade trying to make sure history doesn't get lost. When violence breaks out today, people on the ground often recorded on their phones and posted online, hoping the world will see. But what happens to all that footage after it's posted?

Hadi Al Khatib (0:51)

This footage doesn't really stay online for the long term, because it was published on social media platforms that were not designed to keep this information available and accessible for the future.

Elise Hu (1:05)

Hadi is a TED fellow, one of more than 500 early stage innovators around the globe, whose work reaches more than 200 million people a year.

They're not just improving broken systems, they're working to build a better future for all of us. In Hadi's case, he's challenging the idea that you can't investigate a war crime without being at the scene. In today's episode, he shares how his organization, Mnemonic, has archived more than 30 million records from conflicts in places like Syria, Sudan, Yemen, and Ukraine, verifying them so they can be used in court. And he's watching a new threat take shape.

Hadi Al Khatib (1:43)

We really hope that the archives can play this role for the future generations, for them to understand the violence that we are facing in these different countries that we are working on. And to learn from that, to learn not to go through the same mistakes that we went through, and to make better decisions for the future.

Elise Hu (2:11)

After he shares his story, Hadi sits down with TED Fellows program director, Lily James Olds. They get into how his work began with a Facebook group during the Syrian uprising, what he thinks social media companies owe the people to document abuses on their platforms, and how his team protects their own well-being while reviewing some of the most disturbing footage in the world. And Hadi explains what that wave of AI-generated content means for people trying to document the truth. It's all coming up right after a short break.

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Elise Hu (3:50)

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