Exposed: Babel Street

Babel Street is a surveillance technology company that provides open-source intelligence (OSINT) and location tracking tools to government agencies, including the US military, intelligence community, and law enforcement. The company's Locate X product uses location data purchased from commercial data brokers and mobile advertising exchanges to track individual phone movements without a warrant. Government agencies have used Locate X as a workaround for the warrant requirements that would apply if they sought location data directly from phone carriers. Babel Street also operates Babel X, a social media and internet monitoring platform that searches across social media platforms, the dark web, public records, and commercial databases in over 200 languages. The company acquired Gravy Analytics/Venntel in 2024, consolidating major government location tracking capabilities under one roof. The FTC took enforcement action against Gravy Analytics for selling sensitive location data showing visits to abortion clinics, places of worship, and domestic violence shelters, data that Babel Street now controls. Babel Street represents the growing intersection of commercial data and government surveillance, where personal data collected for advertising ends up in intelligence agency dashboards.