OSINT and investigations

Use case

Open-source analysts verify images other people chose to publish: no chain of custody, no cooperation from the source, often a platform-stripped file. ChronoVerify handles the internal-evidence step of that workflow, reading capture time, device, GPS, and provenance in one pass so analyst attention goes where the leads are.

The workflow

1. Triage the internal evidence first. Run the image through the verifier or API before investing analyst time: capture time, device, coordinates, Content Credentials, and manipulation signals in seconds.
2. Treat the metadata as leads, not facts. A capture time, device model, or GPS fix is a recorded claim to corroborate. A metadata anomaly tells you where to dig.
3. Corroborate externally. Reverse-search for prior appearances, geolocate against imagery, chronolocate against sun and weather. Our resources page lists the working tools for each step.

Which verdicts matter

provenance_confirmed is the strong result: a cryptographically validated Content Credential. consistent means the internal evidence holds together. inconclusive is the honest norm for platform-stripped images and accuses nobody. metadata_anomaly is a lead: something in the file contradicts itself.

What this can and cannot tell you

ChronoVerify reads what the file carries; it cannot geolocate a scene, identify a person, or prove an event happened. Social platforms strip most metadata on upload, so downloaded images often return inconclusive, which is absence of evidence, not evidence of fakery. Verdicts direct analyst attention; they are not findings for a report.

One call

curl -X POST https://chronoverify.com/v1/verify \
  -F "file=@downloaded-image.jpg" \
  -F "permalink=true"

Omit the Authorization header to use the free, rate-limited public path. Full field reference is on the method and API page.

Common questions