Lawfare Daily: Prosecuting the Sahel's War Influencers with Lindsay Freeman

The Lawfare Podcast

The Lawfare Institute

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4.7 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On today’s episode, Lawfare Managing Editor Tyler McBrien sits down with Lindsay Freeman, Director of Technology, Law & Policy at the Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley School of Law, to discuss her recent Lawfare article, “War Crimes for Fun and Profit.” They talk about how and why so-called war influencers linked to private military companies such as the Wagner Group in the Sahel are posting “conflict content” online. They also address why this graphic and gory content, which often amounts to self-incriminating evidence of war crimes, has led to so little accountability. And finally, they discuss efforts to close that impunity gap, including an Article 15 submission that Freeman and her team at the Human Rights Center sent to the International Criminal Court last fall.

Content Warning: This episode contains graphic depictions of violence. Listener discretion is advised.

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