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Details about the tool

This toolkit is provided by the InVID european project to help journalists to verify content on social networks (please note that external InVID services used via this interface, such as those presented under the Analysis and Keyframes tabs, are not open-sourced). It has been designed as a verification “Swiss army knife” helping journalists to save time and be more efficient in their fact-checking and debunking tasks on social networks especially when verifying videos and images.

The provided tools allow you to quickly get contextual information on Facebook and YouTube videos, to perform reverse image search on Google, Baidu or Yandex search engines, to fragment videos from various platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Daily Motion) into keyframes, to enhance and explore keyframes and images through a magnifying lens, to query Twitter more efficiently through time intervals and many other filters, to read video and image metadata, to check the video copyrights, and to apply forensic filters on still images. The main features of the toolkit are explained below, and in the following tutorial video.

Access menu

This is a new feature (supported in v0.59) to access the InVID plugin and to help journalists to retrieve video and image URLs within the code of a web page. After clicking on the InVID plugin button of the browser menu, the user is showed the following menu.

Open InVID launches the plugin

launches the plugin Video Urls displays the URL of a video present on a web page

displays the URL of a video present on a web page Image Urls displays the URL of an image present on a web page

Below, there is an example of how the URL of an Instagram video can be retrieved using the newly added functionality.

Main features

The first Analysis tab allows you to query the InVID context aggregation and analysis service developed by CERTH-ITI. In a nutshell, this service is an enhanced metadata viewer for YouTube, Facebook and Twitter videos that allows you to retrieve contextual information, location (if detected), most interesting comments, apply reverse image search and check for tweets on the video (on YouTube). Be aware that the service may take some time if the video processed has a lot of comments. A new feature (a reprocess button) allows you to refresh the analysis.

The second Keyframe tab is an iframe opening the website of CERTH-ITI on video fragmentation. It allows you to copy a video URL (from Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, DailyMotion or Dropbox) or upload a video file (in mp4, webm, avi, mov, wmv, ogv, mpg, flv, and mkv format) in order to segment it in keyframes which then can be searched with a right click on Google, Yandex, Tineye and Baidu images. Our service extracts a rich set of keyframes (depending on the variation of the visual content of the video) and therefore gives the opportunity to enhance the video reverse image search. Those are the real video keyframes that differ from the thumbnails served by Youtube or Facebook. Last but not least, to strengthen more the reverse image search process, the service provides more keyframes on demand, after clicking on the “More keyframes” button that is placed at the end of the initially provided collections of keyframes.

The Thumbnails tab allows you to quickly trigger a reverse image search on Google, Bing, Tineye or Yandex Images with the four thumbnails extracted from a Youtube video. Up to four tabs (according to the number of thumbnails available) are opened automatically in your browser with the results of the reverse search while the four thumbnails are also displayed in the plugin page. This tab is somewhat redundant with what can be done with the Analysis tab but it is very fast and efficient if you just need to look whether a Youtube video has already been published previously. Please note that the Chinese search engine Baidu is not implemented here because it is filtering out Youtube content.

The Search tab allows to enhance a Twitter advanced search for keywords or hashtag using the since and until operators, either separately or together to query within a time interval, up to the minute. It translates automatically the calendar date, hour and minutes into an unix timestamp to facilitate the query, e.g. of first eyewitness pictures or videos within a time range just after a breaking news event. We have also added other features from Twitter advanced such geocode, near, from, language and various filter operators.

The Magnifier lens tab allows you to display an image through its url and to zoom or apply a magnifying lens on the image, or/and to enhance it through a bicubic algorithm to help you discover implicit knowledge such as written words, signs, banners … You can either enter the image url, upload an image from your local drive with the local file button, or drag and drop an image in another tab within your browser and copy and paste the local url. Once the image is displayed from an url, you can also perform a Google, Yandex, Tineye and Baidu reverse image search on it or use the Image forensic service designed by ITI and DW in the Reveal European project. If you are using a local image or you have modified any image (sharp, flip, bicubic), you can either download your modified image or copy a new url to paste it in google images tab which opens in your browser (watch the video below). This feature also supports links of stored images in Dropbox and Google drive.

The Metadata tab allows you to check the Exif metadata of a picture in jpeg format or metadata of a vidéo in mp4/m4v format, either through a link either through a local file. If geocoordinates are available in the picture metadata, a geolocalise button is provided automatically pointing to this location on Google map.

The Video Rights tab provides access to the InVID Rights Management application. This service gets a link to a YouTube, Facebook or Twitter video and retrieves metadata about its rights, unless access is restricted by the content uploader or the social network. First of all it provides the user with a summary of the reuse conditions, as defined by the social network the video is published in. If other reuses are intended, it is recommended to contact the content uploader. This can be done directly or under the guidance of the InVID Rights Management Tool (through the provided links). The latter facilitates contacting the uploader, confirming authorship, or managing the negotiation of the reuse conditions. Alternatively, the Video Rights tab includes information about copyright exceptions if it is not possible to get consent from the author, as the use by the press exception or fair use/fair dealing.

The Forensic tab is an iframe opening the still images forensic service developed by CERTH-ITI in a previous european project on social media verification, Reveal.

The Contextual menu (opens after right clicking on an image or a video url) allows you to trigger functionalities of this plugin on a still image or on a youtube video link. On an image, a right click will propose you either to inspect more closely areas of the image using the Magnifier, to evaluate the image using the Forensics filters, or to launch a reverse image search using several search engines. On a video link, a right click will propose you under the InVID menu to trigger either InVID video analysis or the Youtube thumbnail reverse search (for a Youtube video).

Licence

This toolkit is provided in open source via GitHub (https://github.com/AFP-Medialab/invid-verification-plugin/), under an MIT licence.

Download / Access the tool

Version 0.71 (latest) A beta version for Chrome is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users at https://goo.gl/Fo8i73 (or https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-video-news-debunker/mhccpoafgdgbhnjfhkcmgknndkeenfhe?hl=en). To install the plugin, simply click on “Add to Chrome”. To update any previously installed version of it, go to chrome://extensions, check “Developer mode” and then click on the appeared “Update extensions now” button. Alternatively, you can simply re-start your browser. A beta version for Firefox (compatible with all platforms) is available here. To install the plugin or update any previously installed version of it, after downloading and unpacking the zip file, simply drag & drop the created XPI file in a new tab of your Firefox browser.

Version 0.68 A beta version for Chrome is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users at https://goo.gl/Fo8i73 (or https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-video-news-debunker/mhccpoafgdgbhnjfhkcmgknndkeenfhe?hl=en). To install the plugin, simply click on “Add to Chrome”. To update any previously installed version of it, go to chrome://extensions, check “Developer mode” and then click on the appeared “Update extensions now” button. Alternatively, you can simply re-start your browser. A beta version for Firefox (compatible with all platforms) is available here. To install the plugin or update any previously installed version of it, after downloading and unpacking the zip file, simply drag & drop the created XPI file in a new tab of your Firefox browser.

Version 0.67 A beta version for Chrome is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users at https://goo.gl/Fo8i73 (or https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-video-news-debunker/mhccpoafgdgbhnjfhkcmgknndkeenfhe?hl=en). To install the plugin, simply click on “Add to Chrome”. To update any previously installed version of it, go to chrome://extensions, check “Developer mode” and then click on the appeared “Update extensions now” button. Alternatively, you can simply re-start your browser. A beta version for Firefox (compatible with all platforms) is available here. To install the plugin or update any previously installed version of it, after downloading and unpacking the zip file, simply drag & drop the created XPI file in a new tab of your Firefox browser.

Version 0.66 A beta version for Chrome is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users at https://goo.gl/Fo8i73 (or https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-video-news-debunker/mhccpoafgdgbhnjfhkcmgknndkeenfhe?hl=en). To install the plugin, simply click on “Add to Chrome”. To update any previously installed version of it, go to chrome://extensions, check “Developer mode” and then click on the appeared “Update extensions now” button. Alternatively, you can simply re-start your browser. A beta version for Firefox (compatible with all platforms) is available here. To install the plugin or update any previously installed version of it, after downloading and unpacking the zip file, simply drag & drop the created XPI file in a new tab of your Firefox browser.

Version 0.65 A beta version for Chrome is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users at https://goo.gl/Fo8i73 (or https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-video-news-debunker/mhccpoafgdgbhnjfhkcmgknndkeenfhe?hl=en). To install the plugin, simply click on “Add to Chrome”. To update any previously installed version of it, go to chrome://extensions, check “Developer mode” and then click on the appeared “Update extensions now” button. Alternatively, you can simply re-start your browser. A beta version for Firefox (compatible with all platforms) is available here. To install the plugin or update any previously installed version of it, after downloading and unpacking the zip file, simply drag & drop the created XPI file in a new tab of your Firefox browser.

Version 0.64 A beta version for Chrome is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users at https://goo.gl/Fo8i73 (or https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-video-news-debunker/mhccpoafgdgbhnjfhkcmgknndkeenfhe?hl=en). To install the plugin, simply click on “Add to Chrome”. To update any previously installed version of it, go to chrome://extensions, check “Developer mode” and then click on the appeared “Update extensions now” button. Alternatively, you can simply re-start your browser. A beta version for Firefox is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux users. To install the plugin or update any previously installed version of it, after downloading and unpacking the zip file, simply drag & drop the created XPI file in a new tab of your Firefox browser.

Version 0.62 A beta version for Chrome is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users at https://goo.gl/Fo8i73 (or https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-video-news-debunker/mhccpoafgdgbhnjfhkcmgknndkeenfhe?hl=en). To install the plugin, simply click on “Add to Chrome”. To update any previously installed version of it, go to chrome://extensions, check “Developer mode” and then click on the appeared “Update extensions now” button. A beta version for Firefox is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux users. To install the plugin or update any previously installed version of it, after downloading and unpacking the zip file, simply drag & drop the created XPI file in a new tab of your Firefox browser.

Version 0.60 A beta version for Chrome is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users at https://goo.gl/Fo8i73 (or https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-video-news-debunker/mhccpoafgdgbhnjfhkcmgknndkeenfhe?hl=en). To install the plugin, simply click on “Add to Chrome”. To update any previously installed version of it, go to chrome://extensions, check “Developer mode” and then click on the appeared “Update extensions now” button. A beta version for Firefox is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux users. To install the plugin or update any previously installed version of it, after downloading and unpacking the zip file, simply drag & drop the created XPI file in a new tab of your Firefox browser.

Version 0.59 A beta version for Chrome is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users at https://goo.gl/Fo8i73 (or https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-video-news-debunker/mhccpoafgdgbhnjfhkcmgknndkeenfhe?hl=en). To install the plugin, simply click on “Add to Chrome”. To update any previously installed version of it, go to chrome://extensions, check “Developer mode” and then click on the appeared “Update extensions now” button. A beta version for Firefox is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux users. To install the plugin or update any previously installed version of it, after downloading and unpacking the zip file, simply drag & drop the created XPI file in a new tab of your Firefox browser.

Version 0.58 A beta version for Chrome is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users at https://goo.gl/Fo8i73 (or https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-video-news-debunker/mhccpoafgdgbhnjfhkcmgknndkeenfhe?hl=en). To install the plugin, simply click on “Add to Chrome”. To update any previously installed version of it, go to chrome://extensions, check “Developer mode” and then click on the appeared “Update extensions now” button. A beta version for Firefox is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux users. To install the plugin or update any previously installed version of it, after downloading and unpacking the zip file, simply drag & drop the created XPI file in a new tab of your Firefox browser.

Version 0.56 A beta version for Chrome is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users at https://goo.gl/Fo8i73 (or https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-video-news-debunker/mhccpoafgdgbhnjfhkcmgknndkeenfhe?hl=en). To install the plugin, simply click on “Add to Chrome”. To update any previously installed version of it, go to chrome://extensions, check “Developer mode” and then click on the appeared “Update extensions now” button. A beta version for Firefox is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux users. To install the plugin or update any previously installed version of it, after downloading and unpacking the zip file, simply drag & drop the created XPI file in a new tab of your Firefox browser.

Older versions A beta version 0.55 for Firefox is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux users. To install the plugin or update any previously installed version of it, after downloading and unpacking the zip file, simply drag & drop the created XPI file in a new tab of your Firefox browser. A beta version 0.54 for Firefox is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users. To install the plugin, after downloading and unpacking the zip file, simply drag & drop the created XPI file in a new tab of your Firefox brows

Version history Version 0.71 (Date of release: June 7, 2019): A redesign of the InVID verification plugin, which is now maintained and enhanced within the WeVerify H2020 project (under grant agreement N° 825297). This version includes: i) Facebook authentication in the Analysis feature to be able to process Facebook public videos, ii) Classroom and Interactive pages and iii) updated Tutorial (each feature has now a video tutorial in each language, available by clicking on the (i) button next to the corresponding tool). Version 0.68 (Date of release: January 25, 2019): New beta release of the plugin, which contains some bug fixes that prevented the analysis of locally stored videos with the Keyframes tool. Version 0.67 (Date of release: December 20, 2018): New beta release of the plugin, which i) integrates the Keyframes and Forensic tools directly through their APIs, ii) contains a crop function to the Magnifier, iii) is translated also in Spanish. Version 0.66 (Date of release: October 29, 2018): New beta release of the plugin, which has some bugs fixed in the Magnifier and Metadata tools. Version 0.65 (Date of release: October 8, 2018): New beta release of the plugin, which i) has some bugs fixed in the (Contextual) Analysis tool and ii) contains some improvements in the Metadata tool. Version 0.64 (Date of release: September 14, 2018): New beta release of the plugin, which i) integrates the new Video Rights tool that enables the user to the check the video copyrights and ensure authorized video re-use, ii) includes the new and improved version of the (Contextual) Analysis tool, iii) contains a mechanism for handling “time_continue” YouTube URLs, and iv) allows better integration with Google analytics. Version 0.62 (Date of release: July 13, 2018): New beta release of the plugin, which i) includes a GDPR-compatible cookie consent, ii) offers the Forensic functionality also via the contextual menu, iii) enables reverse image search using the KarmaDecay and the Bing search engines via the contextual menu, iv) has a bug fixed in the Contextual Analysis tool. Version 0.60 (Date of release: January 31, 2018): Fixed bug in the Analysis tab of the plugin. Version 0.59 (Date or release: January 26, 2018): New beta release of the plugin, which i) provides a new launch popup menu with two options to find out videos and images urls in the current page code (this is to help journalists identify the video link on Instagram, Vimeo, Liveleak… that can be opened in a new tab for download or directly used in the Keyframes features), ii) supports YouTube shorteners in all corresponding functions, iii) contains an enhanced contextual menu (with filters to avoid displaying a function that does not work properly), iv) offers a preview of picture for Metadata and support of Dropbox and GDrive URLs, v) includes a new API for Analysis with Twitter support, vi) integrates Tineye as reverse search engine in all tabs where reverse search is applied, vii) offers a link to timaanddate.com to « convert to local time » feature in Analysis, viii) enables filtering of YouTube URLs in the Thumbnails feature. Version 0.58 (Date of release: November 20, 2017): New beta release of the plugin, which i) integrates an improved version of the video contextual verification tool that supports UTC time conversion, multilingual comment detection and verification and progressive display of results, ii) allows the application of reverse image search on YouTube thumbnails through the Bing engine, iii) includes an extended version of the video keyframe extraction tool that offers additional keyframes for reverse keyframe search, iv) provides an improved presentation of the collected image/video metadata, v) integrates Google Analytics for gathering information about its use (related privacy disclaimer has been added in the “About” tab), and vi) contains a tutorial that presents the functionalities of plugin. Version 0.56 (Date of release: October 3, 2017): New beta release of the plugin, which i) contains a feedback mechanism (connected with a Slack channel) for instant reporting of issues regarding the functionality of the different components of the tool, ii) integrates a survey concerning the use of the tool, iii) offers the new “flip” filter of the Magnifier, that creates a mirrored instance of the given image and allows to download this instance or directly use it for reverse image search, and iv) permits the application of the Magnifier on images stored in Google drive (through the share link) or in Dropbox. Version 0.55 (Date of release: August 4, 2017): New beta release of the plugin, which contains an updated version of the video fragmentation and keyframe reverse search component, and a newly added button in Metadata tab, that opens a Google Map centered on the geo coordinates of the image (if available) Version 0.54 (Date of release: July 12 , 2017): Open beta release of the plugin, which contains functionalities for contextual analysis, video fragmentation and keyframe/thumbnail reverse search, advanced Twitter search, image magnification, metadata analysis and forensic analysis. Initial versions (v0.1-v0.5) of the plugin have been developed by AFP Medialab (Denis Teyssou, Jean-Michel Leung).



Contact

For any feedback (bugs, enhancement, suggestions) please email us at invid-verification-plugin@iti.gr.

Disclaimer

This software is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement. In no event shall the authors or copyright holders be liable for any claim, damages or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from, out of or in connection with the software or the use or other dealings in the software.