Merlyn Thomas isn’t your average journalist. As a BBC Verify correspondent, she’s on the front lines of a global battle, sifting through a sea of digital noise to unearth the truth. Since May 2023, she and a team of about 60 dedicated individuals have been working tirelessly, armed with a unique blend of skills – from deciphering satellite images to forensic analysis – to fight the spread of deceptive information that often pops up during conflicts in places like Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and Iran. It’s a tough, relentless job, but Merlyn and her colleagues are driven by a commitment to clarity in a world increasingly blurred by misinformation.
Think about it: every day, we’re bombarded with information from every conceivable angle. As Merlyn points out, figuring out what’s real has become incredibly difficult. Misinformation isn’t always malicious; sometimes, people share things out of genuine concern or care, but in their haste, they unintentionally contribute to a “bad information economy.” This isn’t just a hunch; studies show that a significant portion of UK adults already use fact-checking tools, with BBC Verify being a household name for many. Their goal isn’t just to tell you what happened, but to provide the full context: what they know, what they don’t know, and how they know it, answering the fundamental questions of who, what, when, where, and why. Merlyn emphasizes their key criteria for tackling misinformation: is it causing real-world harm, and how widely has it spread? They’re careful not to amplify falsehoods, but if something has gone viral, they recognize their responsibility to address it head-on. Her journey, from studying French and Arabic to a Creative Access trainee at the BBC, starting in radio and then climate disinformation, has equipped her with a diverse toolkit for this crucial role.
What’s fascinating is that Merlyn insists you don’t need fancy gadgets to start debunking things yourself. She champions the power of “open-source intelligence,” which is essentially using publicly available information. A simple tool like Google Lens, a reverse image search, can be a game-changer. She offers a perfect example: “wildfires.” You’ll see videos claiming to be from a recent fire in one location, but a quick reverse search reveals it’s an old clip, perhaps from years ago or a different place entirely. The same goes for conflict zones. Geolocation, too, often boils down to a sharp eye and human instinct. Merlyn describes it like detective work, looking for subtle clues – a distinctive pylon, a field’s intersection, even the angle of sunlight to estimate timing. “It’s down to gut instinct,” she admits. “Sometimes you’re like, ‘Does this feel like it’s real?’ It’s better to be cautious than not. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Beyond these techniques, Merlyn shares a handy checklist of questions we should all ask ourselves when encountering new information online: “Who shared it? Why are they sharing it? Do they have an agenda? Is this new or old? Does anything feel off about this video – the sounds, the language, the visuals? And now, critically, is it AI-generated or manipulated? Are the fingers, mouth, or teeth moving strangely?” If doubt lingers, the best advice is to head to a trusted news source. BBC Verify understands this and makes a concerted effort to reach people where they are – on TV, radio, digital platforms, and increasingly, through social media videos. Merlyn highlights a significant problem with “echo chambers” – how people are often exposed only to information that confirms their existing beliefs, especially during elections. This tribalism, she explains, can create “chaos” when big, divisive stories hit, making accurate information more vital than ever.
Some verification tasks are quick wins. Merlyn recalls verifying a synagogue attack in Manchester in October 2025 in just ten minutes, thanks to clear visual cues and local reporters on the ground. Other cases can be a much tougher slog. She paints a picture of a “foggy, misty video in Ukraine over some fields, where the only thing you can see is a pylon.” In such instances, they’ll hunt for corroborating videos, but if none exist, they just keep meticulously working on that single, challenging piece of evidence. The BBC’s collaborative spirit shines here, with various teams, including language services, the World Service, local contacts, and AI manipulation experts, all pooling their knowledge. When breaking news erupts, it’s a frantic race to gather and scrutinize every available video, piece by painful piece, to build a coherent picture.
Merlyn’s work often exposes her to incredibly graphic material. One story she’s particularly proud of involved a secret folder. Sources shared hundreds of faces of victims killed by the Iranian government, their last moments captured in close-up images from inside the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Centre. “It was really hard,” she recounts, remembering the grueling process of meticulously comparing faces from different angles, often with subtle lighting changes, to identify individuals and confirm their deaths through online mourning posts. Through this painstaking process, they identified 326 people from 392 photos, including 18 women, providing names, faces, and numbers that would otherwise have remained unknown. This ability to bring “clarity and some information that we painstakingly verified” into situations shrouded in confusion and conflicting death tolls is where she feels her work truly makes an impact. It’s a stark reminder of the human cost of disinformation and the power of truth.
The looming specter of AI-generated content, in all its forms – images, video, and especially audio – is a growing concern. Merlyn calls AI-generated audio “the scariest thing” because of its insidious nature and difficulty to detect. While the BBC is developing its own AI detection tools, she admits they’re currently outpaced by the rapid advancements in AI generation. In an age where news is a constant stream rather than a scheduled broadcast, trust is the ultimate commodity. While the BBC remains a prominent news source, it hasn’t been immune to declining public trust, as highlighted by a 2026 study. And BBC Verify itself has faced scrutiny regarding its accuracy. However, a BBC spokesperson reiterates their commitment: “Our reporting goes through robust accuracy checks before being published.” Merlyn herself emphasizes, “We always prioritize accuracy over fastness. We have peer reviews to make sure that everything is double-checked before it gets to the editing stage.” This dedication to transparency and rigorous verification is at the heart of CEO Deborah Turness’s sentiment: “Trust is earned.” Merlyn acknowledges the immense challenges of her role, but her pride in her team and their mission is palpable. “I genuinely feel really privileged to be able to work on the stories that I do. We have a responsibility to deliver the truth.” In a world drowning in information, Merlyn Thomas and the BBC Verify team are a crucial lifeline, fighting for clarity, context, and, ultimately, the truth.