Check images and videos.

Before the first click

Keep the link to the original post and its caption. Write down the precise claim: “This video was recorded today in this place” is easier to investigate than “Is it real?”

You do not upload anything on this page. At the linked search services, you decide whether to submit a file. Use public, non-sensitive material; private photos, identity documents and confidential recordings should not be part of a quick search experiment.

Check an image in four steps

Tick the steps as you go. The boxes are a reminder, not an authenticity score.

• 1. Record the claim and its sourceWho posted the image? Do they name a place, a date and an original source? A familiar account alone does not substantiate the claim.
• 2. Look for other appearancesSearch for the same image with Google Lens or TinEye. Open the result pages and compare captions, dates and the full image. Go to the tools ↓
• 3. Compare the contextDoes the recording fit the claimed place and event? Look for an independent report or a directly relevant source. Many copies of one post are not independent evidence.
• 4. Separate evidence from uncertaintyRecord what the sources actually show. “Already online earlier” may contradict a recent date — it does not tell you whether AI created the image.

For video: check several moments

1. Look for the complete clip. Follow the stated source. Can you see more than the short extract? Note whether an introduction, an edit or a caption changes the meaning.
2. Select two or three still frames. Pause at different points and take screenshots of a building, sign or landscape, for example. Keep the link and the time positions.
3. Search each frame separately. Google Lens and TinEye search images: submit a screenshot, not the entire film. Compare the result pages with the sequence in the original.
4. Check the picture, sound and claim separately. Old footage can have new audio. For a supposed quotation, look for the full speech or recording from the original source. A matching still frame does not verify the sound.

Finding no matches proves neither authenticity nor AI generation. Image search does not cover everything. One blurry or unusual moment is also insufficient to judge the entire clip.

Three tools, three purposes

These links lead to external providers, whose terms apply there. We checked their linked documentation; this is not a comparison of detection performance.

• Google Lens ↗

  Use it to: find similar images and pages containing a recording. Start with the camera icon in Google Search.

  Limit: a similar-looking image may be a different recording. Open the result page and check its context. Source ↓

• TinEye ↗

  Use it to: find appearances of the same image or edited versions. Enter a file or image address and compare the matches.

  TinEye may show a browser check. If you cannot reach the search, try Google Lens.

  Limit: “First found” means when TinEye found it, not when it was recorded. No match only means the search has not returned a matching page. Sources ↓

• Content Credentials Verify ↗

  Use it to: look for available information about origins and edits. This may document the use of AI, for example. The service requires JavaScript.

  Limit: missing credentials do not prove a fake. Existing credentials do not certify the truth of the story being told. Sources ↓

What if it looks AI-generated?

Unusual hands, lettering or movements may deserve a closer look. Treat them as a reason to investigate, not conclusive proof. Even a convincing image needs evidence of its origins.

A percentage from an AI detector also cannot tell you whether the place, date or caption is correct. This guide therefore does not produce an automatic “real or fake” score. What provenance information can tell you ↓

What would you conclude?

A fictional exercise created by CurioSignals. The post, place and archive discovery are invented. This is not a real incident or a search result from a provider.

Which conclusion does this support? Open the answer you think is right.

In a real investigation, you would also need to establish that the archive date and sequence comparison are reliable. Here, they are explicitly given as premises of the exercise.

Your result in one sentence

“I found … . This establishes … . What remains uncertain is … .”

If all you have is a guess, “still unverified” is a useful result. Do not share the recording as confirmed news. The number of checked boxes does not change that.