How to spot · FIND THE SOURCE

How to reverse-search a picture

A reverse image search starts from the picture instead of from words. You give a search engine the picture and it shows you where else that picture, or one very like it, appears online. It is free, it takes under a minute, and it is the single most useful check there is.

On a phone

1. Press and hold the picture and choose the option to search it. In Chrome this is Search image with Google; in the Google app it is the Lens camera icon.
2. If that option is missing, save the picture or take a screenshot, then open Google Lens or go to tineye.com and upload it.
3. Crop to the important part if the screenshot includes captions or other clutter.

On a computer

1. Right-click the picture and choose Search image with Google, or copy the picture’s address.
2. Or go to images.google.com, click the camera icon and upload or paste the picture.
3. Try a second engine. TinEye is good at finding exact copies and can sort results by oldest first. Bing and Yandex sometimes find things the others miss.

What to look for in the results

• The oldest copy. If a picture “from last night” was online three years ago, the story attached to it is false, whatever the picture shows.
• The best copy. The largest, sharpest version is usually closest to the original, and often carries the photographer’s name.
• Who published it. A news agency, a museum or a named photographer is a strong sign it is real. An art account, a joke page or an AI gallery is a strong sign it is not.
• What others have said. If fact-checkers have already written about it, their articles usually appear in the results.

When the search finds nothing

No results does not mean the picture is fake, and it does not mean it is real. A brand-new photograph has not been copied yet. A brand-new AI picture has not either. But it tells you the picture is new, so the question becomes who posted it first and whether they are in a position to know.

For videos

Search engines cannot search a whole video, but they can search a frame from one. Pause on a clear moment, take a screenshot and search that. Try two or three different frames.

What this cannot tell you

A search shows you where a picture has been, not whether it is true. Treat it as the first step: it points you to the people who can confirm it.