Have you ever come across a video online and wondered about its origin or authenticity? With so many videos being shared on social media platforms, it can be challenging to verify their sources. However, a free tool co-developed by AFB (Agence France-Presse) can help you find out if the video or a similar one has been published elsewhere. In this article, we will explain how to use this tool to investigate the origin of a video.
First, you need to download the free tool called InVID (In Video Verification). It was developed for fact-checkers, journalists, and researchers to investigate videos and images. Once downloaded, it will appear with plugins on the top right corner of your screen, and you can click on the pin to have the icon always visible on the bar.
To start, open the InVID toolbox by clicking on the icon in the top right corner of your screen and click on ‘Open Toolbox.’ Next, click on ‘Keyframe’ and paste the URL of the video from Facebook in the bar to paste the look of the video. The program will extract frames like screenshots from each sequence of the video, and now you can see several screenshots or keyframes taken from the video.
The next step is to run a reverse image search using these screenshots. Choose the screenshot with the most details and do a right-click. Select the search engine you want to use to run the search. In this example, they start with Google, but if it doesn’t work, you can try with other search engines like Yandex.
In this example, Google could not find the same video, and in the similar images, none seem to be from the video from Facebook. However, with Yandex, they found a link that looks like it gives more information, and we can see on the right more images that look from the same video. They clicked on the link, and now they have a link that clearly showed the same video, but it’s in Turkish, which they don’t speak. So, they used Google to translate the page for them. It says that the video shows the police arresting football utras in Bucharest, and it makes more sense because the police officers look like anti-riot police, not the type you see in public transportation.
This is not proof, but it gives them a lead, and they continue to investigate. They searched for information in Romanian media about the video and found a media report in Romanian about the incident between the police and the supporters. It says that one group of supporters went into the metro station Stefan telmare in Bucharest. They checked on Google Maps and found that the incident happened in the Metro station Stefan senmare in Bucharest.
They looked at the pictures of the station and compared them with the keyframes, and they found that the video was taken at the Metro station Stefan senmare in Bucharest. Romanian media has reported about it, and they could also contact the police to confirm.
In conclusion, the InVID tool is an effective way to investigate the origin and authenticity of videos. By using this tool, we can verify if a video or a similar one has been published elsewhere. It’s essential to verify online content before sharing it on social media platforms as it can spread misinformation and cause harm.