Deepfakes & Digital Verification

Curated links and references for spotting AI-generated media and manipulated visuals, and verifying authenticity.

Use this page when a video, image, or audio clip feels “off,” or when a sensational claim spreads with eye-catching media.

✅ Deepfake Fact-Checking

AFP Fact Check — Global fact-checking that frequently debunks manipulated/AI-generated media. ✔IFCN-Verified
🌐 https://factcheck.afp.com/ ↗️

Reuters Fact Check — Verifies viral visuals and investigates manipulated or AI-assisted content. ✔IFCN-Verified
🌐 https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/ ↗️

AP Fact Check — Checks claims with a strong focus on political and viral visuals. ✔IFCN-Verified
🌐 https://apnews.com/APFactCheck ↗️

PolitiFact — Examines political visuals and claims, including AI-generated and edited media. ✔IFCN-Verified
🌐 https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/ ↗️

Full Fact — UK-based fact-checker that analyzes misleading images, videos, and narratives. ✔IFCN-Verified
🌐 https://fullfact.org/ ↗️

🧰 Digital Verification Tools & Techniques

InVID & WeVerify — Browser toolkit for video keyframes, reverse-image lookups, and metadata checks.
🌐 https://www.invid-project.eu/ ↗️

TinEye Reverse Image Search — Finds earlier/alternate versions of images to trace first appearance.
🌐 https://tineye.com/ ↗️

Google Images (Search by Image) — Reverse-image search via camera/upload to find sources and context.
🌐 https://images.google.com/ ↗️

Forensically (29a.ch) — Visual forensics suite (clone detection, error levels, noise analysis).
🌐 https://29a.ch/photo-forensics/ ↗️

Wayback Machine — See prior versions of pages/posts; verify if media/claims existed before an event.
🌐 https://web.archive.org/ ↗️

📌 Sam’s Takes (Quick Reminders)

Extract keyframes before searching. One thumbnail won’t surface the truth—search multiple clear frames.

Chase the first appearance. If the image predates the “news,” it’s repurposed—or worse.

Edges and physics betray fakes. Watch hair/earlines, reflections, jewelry, shadows, and hand/finger geometry.

Audio tells on close listen. Robotic cadence, breath/noise floor mismatches, and sudden accent/intonation shifts are red flags.

Metadata helps, but chain-of-custody matters more. Screenshots strip EXIF*—so lean on cross-checks and provenance.

*Exchangeable Image File Format. It’s metadata that many image files (JPEG, TIFF, HEIC, some WEBP/RAW) store inside the file, including useful clues about when/where and how a photo was made.