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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.


Workshop video: Searching in the age of AI

Workshop video: Searching in the age of AI

We covered tips and tools for online search

Mar 16, 2026

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3 min read

Briefing: The Instagram AI influencer grift is evolving

Briefing: The Instagram AI influencer grift is evolving

Plus: How *not* to use photo forensics tools and the best way to vet browser extensions.

Mar 13, 2026

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16 min read

Announcing the beta of OSINT Navigator

Announcing the beta of OSINT Navigator

Ask OSINT Navigator a question, and it will suggest tools that can assist with your investigation

Mar 10, 2026

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4 min read

A real doctor used a pseudonym to post viral health AI slop and sell books

A real doctor used a pseudonym to post viral health AI slop and sell books

Dr. Hakim Bahdo generated tens of millions of views and attracted millions of followers as "Dr. Kim Bado."

Mar 9, 2026

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8 min read

Briefing: X and Trump admin decide fact-checking is good, actually

Briefing: X and Trump admin decide fact-checking is good, actually

Plus: Check out our redesigned and updated Academic Library and a bunch of new OSINT tools

Mar 6, 2026

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18 min read

How AI-Generated Influencers Exploit Celebrities to Sell Synthetic Nudes

How AI-Generated Influencers Exploit Celebrities to Sell Synthetic Nudes

AI personas posted fabricated photos with celebrities like The Rock, John Cena, and Cristiano Ronaldo to build followings on Instagram. Then they earned money with synthetic explicit content on Fanvue.

Mar 4, 2026

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11 min read

Show & Tell: Learn how Spanish investigators exposed digital deception on Meta and TikTok

Show & Tell: Learn how Spanish investigators exposed digital deception on Meta and TikTok

We talked about investigating scams, CSAM, and more with Clara Jiménez Cruz of Maldita.es

Mar 2, 2026

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3 min read

Briefing: Disinfo spreads in wake of “El Mencho” killing

Briefing: Disinfo spreads in wake of “El Mencho” killing

Plus: how to view tweets without logging in, investigate ecommerce sites, and more.

Feb 27, 2026

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9 min read

The Indicator guide to investigating ecommerce sites

The Indicator guide to investigating ecommerce sites

A practical walkthrough of the tools, techniques, and indicators used to analyze online stores and identify ecommerce fraud operations.

Feb 23, 2026

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30 min read

Briefing: New deepfake rules go into effect in India

Briefing: New deepfake rules go into effect in India

Plus: updates to tools for inspecting websites and analyzing Telegram.

Feb 20, 2026

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11 min read

Fake verdicts, fake lawyers: How AI lawslop is flooding YouTube — and fooling viewers

Fake verdicts, fake lawyers: How AI lawslop is flooding YouTube — and fooling viewers

YouTube banned six channels and demonetized four others in response to Indicator’s reporting.

Feb 19, 2026

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10 min read

Briefing: Tracking the AI takeover of Community Notes

Briefing: Tracking the AI takeover of Community Notes

Plus: Tools for counting crowd size and generating Google Dorks.

Feb 13, 2026

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10 min read

“Crying girls will make you rich”: How marketers trick users with mass-produced "organic" content

“Crying girls will make you rich”: How marketers trick users with mass-produced "organic" content

Indicator analyzed UGC campaigns that generated over 2 billion TikTok views and found rampant violations of disclosure rules.

Feb 10, 2026

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24 min read

Workshop video: Investigating affiliate scams and using Claude Code for OSINT

Workshop video: Investigating affiliate scams and using Claude Code for OSINT

The pros and cons of using LLMs in investigations

Feb 9, 2026

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2 min read

Briefing: X wants humans and AI to fact-check together

Briefing: X wants humans and AI to fact-check together

Plus: a world map of OSINT tools and methods for investigating GitHub.

Feb 6, 2026

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11 min read

Watch the first episode of "Show & Tell" from Indicator

Watch the first episode of "Show & Tell" from Indicator

We talk about investigating Meta scam ads with Jeff Horwitz from Reuters

Feb 3, 2026

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3 min read

I watched 8+ hours of OSINT videos and here are the best tips and insights

I watched 8+ hours of OSINT videos and here are the best tips and insights

Top tools and techniques from the SANS OSINT Summit and more

Feb 2, 2026

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28 min read

Briefing: Misleading video turns Italy’s PM into unlikely anti-American icon

Briefing: Misleading video turns Italy’s PM into unlikely anti-American icon

Plus: A tool for AI-powered company searches, and news sites are blocking the Internet Archive's crawlers.

Jan 30, 2026

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9 min read

AI-generated doctors are dispensing dubious health advice

AI-generated doctors are dispensing dubious health advice

Indicator identified more than two dozen social media accounts that feature synthetic doctors and medical professionals. They've racked up millions of views and engagements.

Jan 26, 2026

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10 min read

Briefing: YouTube CEO promises to tackle AI slop

Briefing: YouTube CEO promises to tackle AI slop

Plus: The best tool to download videos from YouTube and other sites.

Jan 23, 2026

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10 min read

The state of online search: How to find what you're looking for in the age of AI

The state of online search: How to find what you're looking for in the age of AI

Operators still work, AI can help, and the "hard way" is now the only way.

Jan 19, 2026

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24 min read

Briefing: New tool checks when a website was created

Briefing: New tool checks when a website was created

Plus: The US Senate passed a law allowing victims of nonconsensual deepfake nudes to sue their abusers.

Jan 16, 2026

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8 min read

Anatomy of a TikTok scam: Following the money from viral videos to shady affiliate marketers

Anatomy of a TikTok scam: Following the money from viral videos to shady affiliate marketers

Videos promised users they could earn money by watching TikToks. Here's how we investigated the scheme

Jan 12, 2026

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19 min read

Briefing: Grok brings nonconsensual image abuse to the masses

Briefing: Grok brings nonconsensual image abuse to the masses

Plus: a new feature in the Meta Ad Library and a new Telegram investigation tool.

Jan 9, 2026

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16 min read

Workshop video: OSINT tools of the year

Workshop video: OSINT tools of the year

Awesome tools to help you find, analyze, extract, and collect information

Jan 8, 2026

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2 min read

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