Alexi Mostrous worked at The Times and at the Guardian for 13 years in roles including Head of Investigations and Saturday News Editor, before joining Tortoise Media as a partner in September 2019. In 2013 he won News Reporter of the Year and Scoop of the Year for exposing celebrities such as Jimmy Carr and Gary Barlow as aggressive tax avoiders. In 2018 he was nominated for the same awards for his reporting on Google and Facebook. He has reported from both London and Washington DC as a Stern Fellow for the Washington Post. Previously a barrister, Mostrous studied English at Cambridge.
Alexi Mostrous
Investigations Editor
“In a world of Facebook clickbait, Twitter streams and iPhone alerts, in-depth journalism has never been more important. As an investigative reporter, it’s great to work for an organisation which takes the time to look beyond the headlines and tell important stories in new and innovative ways.”
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Tuesday 26 October 2021
13:00-14:00 BST
How do we prepare today for the labour market of tomorrow?
Join us for a ThinkIn as we consider how we might start preparing for the labour market of tomorrow.
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Tuesday 21 September 2021
13:00-14:00 BST
In conversation with Katherine Ainley, CEO, Ericsson UK & Ireland
An hour with Katherine Ainley, covering the critical role that 5G can play in enabling exponential change, building a resilience zero-emissions future, and diversity and inclusion in the ICT sector.
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Wednesday 22 September 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
Will technology widen the power gap? In conversation with Azeem Azhar
An hour with Azeem Azhar to discussing his new book, Exponential – about the ‘exponential gap’ between the power of new technology and our ability to keep up.
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Monday 17 May 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
How does Pornhub get away with it?
How does Pornhub get away with it?
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Wednesday 5 May 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
Banning Trump: did Facebook call it right?
What does Trump’s ban from Facebook mean for the future of the platform? We ask the experts.
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Tuesday 16 March 2021
08:00-09:00 GMT
Toxicity in tech: Why are Google’s leading AI ethics researchers being ‘silenced’?
Is Google silencing its researchers who speak out about their AI ethics? Join us as we ask the experts.
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Friday 26 March 2021
09:00-15:00 GMT
The Future of Cars Summit
Join us and invited experts to discuss the big questions about the future of cars
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Tuesday 2 February 2021
08:00-09:00 GMT
The Battle for Truth: Who will save the internet?
In the first ThinkIn of our Battle for Truth series we are asking – who will save the internet?
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Thursday 25 February 2021
08:30-14:50 GMT
The Future of Money Summit
Join us an invited experts to discuss the big questions about the future of money
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Thursday 3 December 2020
08:30-14:00 GMT
The Global AI Summit
On 3rd December, second Global AI Summit will imagine a world with AI at its core.
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Monday 26 October 2020
18:25-19:30 GMT
The future of information: what is saved, what’s deleted and who decides?
Once you share something online, is it really out there forever?
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Tuesday 6 October 2020
07:55-09:00 BST
Is a more automated job market less fair?
Breakfast ThinkIn: is a more automated job market less fair?
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Wednesday 27 October 2021
Inside Project “Jedi Blue”
Two tech states control more than half of the world’s online advertising market; Google and Facebook
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Wednesday 20 October 2021
The extremes of Facebook’s “Hate Curve”
The more time you spend on Facebook, the more likely you are to see extreme and potentially harmful posts
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Wednesday 13 October 2021
Digital Defence Department
State-sponsored cyber attacks are on the rise, and while there are numerous perpetrators, there’s one which sponsors the attacks more than any other – Russia. Is Microsoft the first, best line of defence?
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Wednesday 6 October 2021
Big tech, big carbon?
Several of the Tech States talk a good game when it comes to climate action. But their lobbying activity and carbon emissions tell a different story
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Wednesday 29 September 2021
The safest place in the world to be online…
The tech states could find themselves on the wrong end of the UK’s Online Safety Bill
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Wednesday 22 September 2021
Water off a Zuck’s back…
How will Zuckerberg’s tech state survive the Facebook Files?
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Wednesday 15 September 2021
The black hole of cybersecurity spending
Cybersecurity is becoming more and more expensive, but the quality of protection isn’t getting any better
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Wednesday 8 September 2021
The Tech States’ “Me Too” moment
How is Big Tech handling its employee revolution?
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Wednesday 1 September 2021
Is China playing with its e-sports future?
China’s young gamers will have to hang up their headsets, as new restrictions block gaming during much of the week. What does this mean for their prospects in the fast growing and extremely lucrative e-sports scene; where most players start young, and play for hours on end?
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Wednesday 25 August 2021
How should big tech treat the Taliban?
When a violent extremist group takes over a country, how should social media platforms respond?
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Wednesday 18 August 2021
China’s techlash explained
China’s tech sector is hemorrhaging share value as the country undergoes its own big techlash. As the power of its internet giants is curbed by aggressive legislation; we take a look inside the crackdown as it’s unfolding, and ask the question on every commentator’s mind: why?
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Wednesday 28 July 2021
Enter the race to the metaverse
Mark Zuckerberg wants to take the internet beyond the confines of mobile devices and create his own life-like digital world. He’s not the only one…
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Wednesday 21 July 2021
Huge spyware leak raises questions for Big Tech
Recent leaked data revealing the widespread use of the NSO Group’s controversial Pegasus spyware raises serious questions for the tech states – and their role in the cyber-surveillance ecosystem
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Wednesday 14 July 2021
Surveillance for sale
Facial recognition technology is becoming a point of contention between tech states in China, and those in the US
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Wednesday 7 July 2021
The rise and rise of data politics
Tension is building between China and technology companies. Increasingly, the source of it is data privacy
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Wednesday 30 June 2021
Language in the age of big tech
Internet abbreviations are nothing new, but recently a greater shift has started to take place online, one that’s more about how new forms of language are going to be interpreted. Could we be witnessing the online democratisation of language?
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Wednesday 23 June 2021
Microsoft, censorship and China
Walking the tightrope between the West and China is becoming increasingly difficult for big tech – just ask Microsoft
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Friday 18 June 2021
The Responsible AI Forum at Waddesdon: Our statement
We brought together leading thinkers from around the world to discuss the responsible development and deployment of AI. Here’s what we learned on the day
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Wednesday 16 June 2021
Does Amazon raise prices?
The e-commerce giant’s days avoiding antitrust regulation may soon be over
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Friday 11 June 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: The human in the machine
What just happened
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Wednesday 9 June 2021
Facebook’s busy week
As Zuckerberg moves to cement Facebook’s role as a publisher with its new audio and newsletter products, his company has come under pressure, both from foreign regulators, and from its own oversight board
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Wednesday 2 June 2021
Can AI be independent from big tech?
AI technology is becoming increasingly powerful, and, with much of the funding coming from the Tech States, several scientists have raised the alarm about the role corporate interests play in its development. How worried should we be?
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Wednesday 26 May 2021
How to fix the internet (by Nick Clegg)
In an op-ed for CNBC, Facebook’s Sir Nick Clegg has set out the company’s vision for internet reform. But is there more to the former deputy prime minister’s proposals than meets the eye?
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Friday 21 May 2021
#PornPlanet
Hunt for the porn king: the secretive owner of Pornhub revealed
As dozens of women accuse the world’s largest porn company of profiting from their abuse, we trace its owner to his London mansion
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Wednesday 19 May 2021
Is the tech-lash faltering?
Welcome to Tech Nations Sensemaker – a weekly newsletter dedicated exclusively to covering the tech giants
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Wednesday 12 May 2021
Grocery wars
Welcome to Tech Nations Sensemaker – a weekly newsletter dedicated exclusively to covering the tech giants
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Wednesday 5 May 2021
Big Tech gets bigger
Welcome to Tech Nations Sensemaker – a weekly newsletter dedicated exclusively to covering the tech giants
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Wednesday 28 April 2021
10 minute read
Introducing the Tech States Sensemaker
Welcome to Tech Nations Sensemaker – a weekly newsletter dedicated exclusively to covering the tech giants
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Wednesday 21 April 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Newspapers vs Google
What just happened
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Wednesday 7 April 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Where AstraZeneca went wrong
What just happened
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Friday 5 March 2021
The Future of Money Summit: The Readout
Last week we held the Future of Money Summit, a day of ThinkIns examining the rapidly evolving financial landscape and the implications of change for business, society and government
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Thursday 25 February 2021
Tax and Honour
A very British racer
Sir Lewis Hamilton was knighted despite living in a tax haven. Did the decision set a dangerous precedent?
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Friday 12 February 2021
Money & monarchy
‘Hoodwinked’ over Royal finances
The royal family’s income from the taxpayer has soared since the financial crisis, a Tortoise Investigation found last year. Now the UK’s former top civil servant says there’s been a deliberate attempt to keep the public in the dark
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Thursday 10 December 2020
The Tortoise Global AI Summit: the Readout
We very much hope that you were able to join us at the Global AI summit last Thursday. We had more than 1,500 guests tune in to catch the results of the 2020 Tortoise Global AI Index, to discuss the geo-politics of AI, to examine its impact on talent, investment, and the most recent technological breakthroughs
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Wednesday 5 August 2020
Infodemic II
Going viral
Robert Kennedy Jr’s transformation from hero environmentalist to anti-vaxx superstar
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Tuesday 30 June 2020
Money & monarchy
Family misfortunes
Money is at the root of most of the royals’ problems
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Monday 29 June 2020
Money & monarchy
Royal Flush
The royal family has more than doubled its income in the past 12 years, and is expecting a windfall of half a billion. Yet tensions in the family over money remain
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Wednesday 3 June 2020
Tech States: Amazon
At war:
Amazon in the pandemic
How Jeff Bezos steadied his empire when Covid-19 hit – and whether he paid enough attention to employee safety – will be a defining moment for the billionaire and his Everything Store
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Tuesday 2 June 2020
Tech States: Amazon
The flywheel:
Inside Amazon’s economy
Amazon is not just a player in the market – it is the market, growing in momentum every year. Now, anti-trust regulators are racing to catch up
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Monday 1 June 2020
Tech States: Amazon
Welcome to the United States of Amazon
The tech giants have as much money and influence as nation states. What if we reported on these companies like countries?
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Monday 23 March 2020
Infodemic-1
Fake news in the time of C-19
From miraculous cures to paranoid conspiracies, our investigation reveals how misinformation about coronavirus is going viral at a disturbing rate
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Thursday 9 January 2020
Tech States: Apple
Sourcing and further reading
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Thursday 9 January 2020
Tech States: Apple
Part VIII
Artificial Intelligence: Hey Siri, what’s the story?
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Wednesday 8 January 2020
Tech States: Apple
Part VI
Domestic policy: facing both ways
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Wednesday 8 January 2020
Tech States: Apple
Part V
Cultural affairs
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Tuesday 7 January 2020
Tech States: Apple
Part IV
Foreign policy: The great game
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Tuesday 7 January 2020
Tech States: Apple
Part III
The economy: who gets rich?
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Tuesday 7 January 2020
Tech States: Apple
Part II
Apple’s constitution
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Monday 6 January 2020
Tech States: Apple
Part I
Leadership: Inside the politburo
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Monday 6 January 2020
Tech States: Apple
Welcome to Apple
A one-party state
The tech giants have as much money and influence as nations. So what if we reported on them like countries? What would Apple be? A liberal China…
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Monday 25 October 2021
Episode 1: Sliding Doors
Kirat is a successful marketer and local radio presenter. Online, she’s contacted by a man she vaguely knows called Bobby, and they start chatting. Slowly, they become close… and she’s reeled in to a scam of epic proportions
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Monday 19 July 2021
The porn headmaster
In the internet age, anyone with a camera can make and sell porn. But what happens when a shoot goes wrong? In the second episode in our #PornPlanet series investigating online pornography, we look into the world of porn production
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Monday 24 May 2021
Hunt for the porn king
As dozens of women accuse the world’s largest porn company of profiting from their abuse, listen to the full story of how we traced its secretive owner to his London mansion
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Monday 22 February 2021
A very British business
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is one of Britain’s richest men. His decision to move to Monaco after receiving a knighthood has angered those who recommended him and raises questions about how this country’s honours system works
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Friday 10 July 2020
Covid.com: digital change and opportunity post-pandemic
In the midst of the crisis, we held a ThinkIn on how we can already see a landscape of economic and governmental uncertainty stretching ahead of us. How can digital technology be best deployed to build economic resilience and nimble government in the new era?
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Thursday 4 June 2020
Inside Amazon: A superpower in a pandemic
What’s in the Amazon box? We open up the world’s biggest company and take a look inside
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Thursday 9 January 2020
The new superpowers: Apple
The big technology corporations are more than companies, they’re global powers. It’s time we treated them that way