Featured picture: Image extracted from one of the analyzed videos, showing what appears to be a member of the Nigerian military. The uniform has the words “Borno State Operation Flush” emblazoned. Note: parts of this picture have been blurred due to its graphic nature. Gruesome video...

It is possible to extract hidden information from YouTube video. This can be a relatively cumbersome process that can be simplified through our YouTube Data Viewer. Step 1:  Go to the YouTube Data Viewer Step 2: Enter the URL of your video and hit enter

The YouTube Data Viewer is a simple tool to extract hidden data from videos hosted on YouTube. It allows you to extract the following variables, which are most useful for tracking down original content: Exact Upload Time Useful to determine original video when confronted with several copies of the...

Please note this tutorial has been revised on 29 January 2020. Please see the updated version of this tutorial here. A “reverse image search” allows you to search the internet for previous versions of the same picture. This is crucial for determining if an old image is being...

In case you’d like to do an analysis of the audio of a video, there’s a very easy way to extract the audio, using the handy 4K Video Downloader software. Step 1: Install 4K Video Downloader Step 2: Copy the video link   Step 3: Open 4K Video Downloader on your computer...

Photo: Screenshot of a video from the Syrian conflict after it has been removed by YouTube. Screenshot taken from YouTube. The most compelling evidence of a human rights violation captured on video can be lost if investigators do not save the video in question. YouTube videos are often removed,...

Photo: Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons  (OPCW)-UN Chemical Weapons Team Arrives in Damascus.  October 1, 2013. © UN Photo by Hend Abdel Ghany. Why is it sometimes important to extract the exact local upload time of a YouTube video? Besides being helpful to find the...

Videos on YouTube are only showing the upload date, but not the exact time of upload. This can be important to find the original uploader of a video, and also helps to avoid confusion and incorrect claims about the upload date. The most prominent example for this was the false claim by Russian...

GeoGuessr is an website that uses Google Street View to make users guess at what location they are. It’s a fun way to sharpen your geo-locating skills, which are highly useful in confirming the location of user-generated content. Below are three different challenges. Each challenge consists...

Editor’s note: As of December 2019, neither of the below referenced YouTube video links map to content as the “YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.” This case study was originally published in Verification Hanbdook: A definitive guide to verifying...

By Richard Cozzens. This post was originally published on the WITNESS Blog The quantity of citizen video emerging from the Syrian conflict, combined with the lack of professional journalists on the ground, has resulted in a massive amount of citizen media for researchers and journalists to...