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Oliver Buchannon
Craig Silverman

I'm the co-founder of Indicator and have been investigating digital deception for more than a decade.


Briefing: Elon Musk's rare Community Notes and AI slop everywhere

Briefing: Elon Musk's rare Community Notes and AI slop everywhere

Your must reads and must tries on the digital deception beat this week

Jun 20, 2025

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14 min read

Diddy AI slop is getting tens of millions of views on YouTube

Diddy AI slop is getting tens of millions of views on YouTube

Indicator found 26 channels spreading false claims about the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs via AI-generated thumbnails and video content

Jun 18, 2025

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2 min read

Briefing: X changes its verification messaging and platforms face greater liability in Brazil

Briefing: X changes its verification messaging and platforms face greater liability in Brazil

Your must reads and must tries on the digital deception beat this week

Jun 13, 2025

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13 min read

OSINT case study: How a single Facebook Marketplace ad helped uncover a network of scam domains

OSINT case study: How a single Facebook Marketplace ad helped uncover a network of scam domains

Let's dive into domain-generating algorithms and connecting websites via shared URLs, html titles, and favicons

Jun 9, 2025

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4 min read

June 6 Briefing: Viral paraglider takes media for a trip and some good news about nudifiers

June 6 Briefing: Viral paraglider takes media for a trip and some good news about nudifiers

Your must reads and must tries on the digital deception beat this week

Jun 6, 2025

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10 min read

“ID-Verified Hot Chicks”: Inside the companies using rented LinkedIn profiles to blast thousands of DMs

“ID-Verified Hot Chicks”: Inside the companies using rented LinkedIn profiles to blast thousands of DMs

LinkedIn touts its verification system and commitment to authenticity. But there's an industry of companies paying people to rent their ID-verified profiles

Jun 4, 2025

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2 min read

May 30 Briefing: X Community Notes goes down and new tool fools running apps

May 30 Briefing: X Community Notes goes down and new tool fools running apps

Your must reads and must tries on the digital deception beat this week

May 30, 2025

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10 min read

How 9 facial recognition services handle images, disclose ownership, and more

How 9 facial recognition services handle images, disclose ownership, and more

Some services won't say who owns them, one used misleading customer testimonial photos, and one tool is based in Iran

May 28, 2025

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2 min read

Indicator Briefing (May 23, 2025)

Indicator Briefing (May 23, 2025)

Your must reads and must tries on the digital deception beat this week

May 23, 2025

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10 min read

How to investigate online reviews

How to investigate online reviews

A guide to analyzing online reviews and spotting suspicious accounts

May 19, 2025

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3 min read

A global scam network used fake reviews to lure customers. Here’s how you can investigate them

A global scam network used fake reviews to lure customers. Here’s how you can investigate them

Google told Indicator it has referred the Pakistan-based network to the DOJ, and TrustPilot deleted reviews after we reached out

May 19, 2025

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7 min read

Welcome to Indicator!

Welcome to Indicator!

Your guide to understanding and investigating digital deception

May 18, 2025

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2 min read

Tools and tips round up: New tools for online searching, NICAR tipsheets, and a tip for Pinterest

Tools and tips round up: New tools for online searching, NICAR tipsheets, and a tip for Pinterest

Plus: URL manipulation

May 12, 2025

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2 min read

Tools and tips round up: Using favicons in investigations, analyzing GitHub repos, and an InVID update

Tools and tips round up: Using favicons in investigations, analyzing GitHub repos, and an InVID update

Plus: a LinkedIn tip

Apr 28, 2025

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3 min read

Tools and tips round up: A new way to use OpenStreetMap and tools for Wikipedia, Telegram and more

Tools and tips round up: A new way to use OpenStreetMap and tools for Wikipedia, Telegram and more

Plus: guides for investigative journalism and for using OSINT for Bluesky.

Dec 30, 2024

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2 min read

A guide to tools for searching and using Bluesky

A guide to tools for searching and using Bluesky

Bluesky is surging, so here's a rundown of tools and search operators to use on the platform.

Nov 26, 2024

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2 min read

Tools and tips round up: Finding deleted tweets and new tools from Bellingcat

Tools and tips round up: Finding deleted tweets and new tools from Bellingcat

Plus: upcoming free and paid workshops.

Oct 3, 2024

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2 min read

A look at the Information Laundromat website analysis tool

A look at the Information Laundromat website analysis tool

The Alliance For Securing Democracy created a free OSINT tool to examine the content and metadata of websites

Sep 5, 2024

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2 min read

Tools and tips round up: A new Google search filter and two guides to open source research

Tools and tips round up: A new Google search filter and two guides to open source research

Plus: Analyzing shadows, tools for Telegram, and more!

Jun 21, 2024

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7 min read

A guide to investigating digital ad libraries

A guide to investigating digital ad libraries

How to dig into ad libraries from Google, Meta and other platforms to track spending, narratives, campaigns and more

May 31, 2024

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10 min read

Tools and tips round up: Email investigations, digging into payment gateways, and more

Tools and tips round up: Email investigations, digging into payment gateways, and more

Plus: Google's new image search tool, tipsheets for search engines, shell companies, map investigations, and Telegram.

Apr 18, 2024

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9 min read

Tools and tips round up: CrowdTangle comes to an end and inside Archive.org's Collections

Tools and tips round up: CrowdTangle comes to an end and inside Archive.org's Collections

Plus: new tools for Twitter, Facebook, domain lookups and audio verification.

Mar 26, 2024

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12 min read

Key tools and approaches for using AI in OSINT and investigations

Key tools and approaches for using AI in OSINT and investigations

AI and LLMs pose significant risk to information integrity. But they also offer a lot of promise for OSINT and investigations. Here's a look at some encouraging areas.

Mar 6, 2024

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2 min read

Tools and tips round up: Goodbye Google cache and LinkedIn X-ray search

Tools and tips round up: Goodbye Google cache and LinkedIn X-ray search

It's not all bad news! Learn how to investigate live streaming platforms, work with whistleblowers, and more.

Feb 7, 2024

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2 min read

Tools and tips round up: Searching YouTube transcripts, monitoring webpages, and more

Tools and tips round up: Searching YouTube transcripts, monitoring webpages, and more

Plus: video talks about investigating the dark web and the OSINT mindset.

Jan 9, 2024

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1 min read

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Indicator is your essential guide to understanding and investigating digital deception.


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