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Investigate Europe

Cross-border journalism cooperative holding the powerful to account in Europe Our investigations deal with key issues related to major changes in Europe.

Coming from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Great Britain, we are nine experienced reporters.

04/09/2026

🗺️ Investigate Europe wouldn't exist without collaboration.

Our media partners across Europe and beyond are at the heart of our work. Together, we've built a network that turns cross-border investigations into journalism with real impact.

We are incredibly proud to see this network continue to grow across borders. This map highlights our media partners in 2025, the newsrooms – large and small – that helped bring our investigations to readers, listeners and viewers in dozens of countries and languages.

Thank you to all our media partners who make this work possible!

04/08/2026

Transparency is at the heart of independent journalism.

That's why we're sharing our Annual Report with our community: a look at the investigations we published, their impact, the partnerships we built, and how your support makes this work possible.

🌍 This past year, we published 7 cross-border investigations, reaching readers in 25 countries through 97 coordinated publications with 43 media partners, maximising the reach and impact of our journalism.

Explore what we've achieved together by connecting the dots across Europe and see what your support has made possible.

We can't be bought, but we can be supported. If you value independent, cross-border journalism, please consider making a donation. Your donations are vital to enable us to continue our investigative impacts.

Together, we can keep independent journalism thriving. Thank you for being part of our community.

We are grateful to our donors and the foundations that support our mission.

📖 Read the report via the link in our bio.

23/07/2026

The Court of Justice of the European Union has agreed to release judges' previous financial declarations.

Until now, historical declarations were routinely removed from public view whenever judges updated them. Following Investigate Europe's reporting, the Court has now confirmed that earlier versions will be made available – but only when someone asks for them.

The decision follows Investigate Europe's months-long investigation into the EU's top court. We analysed hundreds of rulings, reviewed dozens of financial declarations and interviewed legal experts to detail the transparency concerns and potential conflict of interest risks at the bloc’s highest judicial institution.

The investigation has already had significant impact:

⇾ In an email earlier this week, the court told Investigate Europe that it will now make previous financial declarations of its members available upon request.

⇾ The European Ombudswoman, Teresa Anjinho, announced an official inquiry into the court's failure to release judges' historical declarations of interest after Investigate Europe filed a complaint.

⇾ The President of the General Court, Marc van der Woude, said the findings would be reviewed by an internal committee, adding that he wants to improve the allocation of cases by checking for potential conflicts of interest, possibly with the help of AI.

🔗 Read our new behind the scenes feature to discover how we reported the investigation and its impact via the link in our bio.

16/07/2026

Every day, millions of people travelling through India's railway stations may have their faces scanned by AI.

The facial recognition technology behind this surveillance was developed by the European company Herta Security, which has received more than €3 million in EU funding.

While the use of this type of AI-powered facial recognition by law enforcement in public spaces remains largely prohibited across Europe, the technology is being exported to countries such as India.

Meanwhile, many citizens don't even know they're being surveilled.

Video: Nico Schmidt and Mayank Aggarwal. Edited by Marta Portocarrero.

This investigation was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.

15/07/2026

🔴 Facial recognition technology is largely banned in the EU. Yet European companies are still exporting it abroad.

According to a business partner, the Spanish company Herta Security has supplied facial recognition technology for thousands of cameras across India, including some used for urban surveillance. Our latest investigation reveals how these systems match faces against databases in public spaces.

The investigation also found that hundreds of millions of euros allocated to tackle sexual violence have, according to women's rights groups, instead been channelled into expanding mass surveillance systems.

→ Meanwhile, Herta Security has received more than €3.3 million in EU research funding since 2020 for projects involving facial recognition and AI-based crowd behaviour analysis.

→ The contrast raises difficult questions. While the EU AI Act prohibits real-time remote biometric identification in public spaces in most cases, European companies can still export similar technologies to countries where equivalent legal safeguards do not exist.

→ Italian MEP Brando Benifei describes this as a "dangerous double standard" for Europe.

Herta told Investigate Europe that it "does not use customer operational data from deployments as a default mechanism to train or improve its algorithms". Any use of personal or biometric data for algorithmic training "would require a clear legal basis".

🔴 Published today in partnership with the Pulitzer Center, this cross-border investigation is brought to you by Investigate Europe, with our media partners EUobserver, infoLibre.es, ComputerWeekly.com, Tech Policy Press, and The Reporters' Collective.

🔗 Read the full investigation: https://www.investigate-europe.eu/posts/made-in-spain-surveillance-tech-banned-in-eu-booms-in-india

14/07/2026

Last week we published the Soft2bet Files — our cross-border investigation exposing the hidden network connected to one of Europe's most influential gambling companies.

Our reporting uncovered connections between Soft2bet and 145 online gambling platforms blacklisted by regulators across Europe, revealing how the company's reach extends far beyond the 11 betting brands it publicly says it operates. The investigation also exposed the human cost of an industry that continues to expand despite mounting regulatory concerns.

You can find the full investigation here: https://www.investigate-europe.eu/posts/payment-firms-handled-millions-for-companies-linked-to-unlicensed-gambling-network

Video Maxence Peigné, Marta Portocarrero.

09/07/2026

Today we publish the second part of the Soft2bet Files.

Investigate Europe’s latest reporting reveals how payment firms appear to have facilitated millions in transfers for a network of unlicensed gambling websites targeting players across Europe.

➡️ Leaked payment records indicate that two UK-regulated firms – My EU Pay and Unlimit – processed more than €600 million in transfers between shell companies operating blacklisted websites and entities connected to gambling group Soft2bet and its partners.

➡️ Other companies identified include Paysafe. The New York Stock Exchange-listed firm, which serves over 200,000 businesses worldwide, processed millions in transfers to the shell companies, documents show. Its payment platform is widely available on unlicensed gambling websites. When Investigate Europe deposited €15 using Paysafe on Onlyspins, a sex-themed gambling website linked to Soft2bet, neither Paysafe nor the website verified reporters' age or identity.

➡️ Reporters also found that player deposits on the unlicensed websites are processed via payment giants Mastercard and Visa. This is despite their long-standing industry commitments to block payments to unlicensed operators.

My EU Pay declined to provide an on-the-record response to Investigate Europe’s questions. Unlimit, Paysafe and Mastercard did not respond to requests for comment. Visa told Investigate Europe: "We follow the law everywhere we do business. We prohibit illegal activity on our network."

Soft2bet denied any wrongdoing, saying our findings reflect an "incorrect and misleading interpretation" of its business and that it operates in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

👉 Read the investigation via the link in our bio.

08/07/2026

L'inchiesta di Investigate Europe pubblicata oggi da Il Fatto Quotidiano sul magnate-filantropo Poliavich descrive una rete di interessi che ruoterebbe attorno al gioco d'azzardo, a società offshore e ad attività finite sotto la lente delle autorità.

Se queste ricostruzioni dovessero trovare conferma, sorge una domanda inevitabile: quali verifiche vengono effettuate prima di affidare il patrimonio pubblico a soggetti privati?

Il gioco d'azzardo non è un'attività neutrale. Alimenta dipendenze, produce gravi conseguenze sociali ed economiche e colpisce in particolare le persone più vulnerabili. Chi trae la propria ricchezza da questo settore dovrebbe essere sottoposto al massimo livello di trasparenza quando entra in rapporto con le istituzioni.

L'inchiesta richiama inoltre il finanziamento di iniziative educative e di programmi rivolti ai giovani, compresi viaggi in Israele. Anche su questo è doveroso pretendere la massima chiarezza: quando soggetti privati finanziano percorsi formativi destinati ai ragazzi, è legittimo chiedere quali siano gli obiettivi, i contenuti e le modalità con cui tali progetti vengono promossi.

La tutela del patrimonio pubblico passa anche dalla credibilità e dall'affidabilità dei partner scelti. Trasparenza, controlli rigorosi e responsabilità istituzionale non sono un dettaglio: sono un dovere verso i cittadini.

08/07/2026

Rachel lost £145,000 after her repeated requests to self-exclude from unlicensed online casinos in the UK were ignored.

Another player in Austria lost €70,000, bankrupting both himself and his business.

Their stories are at the heart of a year-long investigation by Investigate Europe and published today with media partners in 15 countries into Soft2bet, a gambling company celebrated for its responsible gambling credentials.

→ By analysing thousands of leaked payment records, internal company files and interviews with former employees, we uncovered a vast network of unlicensed gambling websites and traced more than €600 million flowing from offshore casinos back to Soft2bet.

→ Read the full investigation here:h ttps://www.investigate-europe.eu/posts/soft2bet-files-gambling-scheme-made-600m-from-unlicensed-casinos-with-predatory-tactics

The investigation was published with our media partners around the world: Bayerischer Rundfunk, Ciren, France 2, Franceinfo.fr, Il Fatto Quotidiano, The Irish Times, Partizan, Profil, Publico.es, Publico.pt, Reporters United, Le Soir, Shomrim, Svenska Dagbladet, Times of Malta and The Toronto Star.

01/07/2026

From Luxembourg, the Court of Justice of the European Union makes decisions that shape laws across the EU.

Its judges are expected to uphold the highest standards of impartiality, avoiding not only actual conflicts of interest but also situations that could be perceived as such.

Our latest investigation examines transparency at the court. By analysing judges' declarations of interest, our reporters found that more than 40 per cent of current judges and advocates general have declared private financial interests, raising questions about the safeguards designed to protect judicial impartiality.

🎥 In this video, Pascal Hansens explains the key findings from our six-month investigation.

🔗 Read the full investigation on our website and through our media partners across Europe, including Le Monde, Le Soir, taz, Follow the Money, EUobserver, Público (Spain) and Público (Portugal)

https://www.investigate-europe.eu/posts/top-eu-judges-financial-holdings-raise-troubling-questions

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