How to identify a Fake Photo

This is a more popular type of fake, but also it is easier to dispel. Using the Internet, it is usually possible to establish the credibility of any photo within a matter of seconds. As it turns out, however, most users are incapable of this; they instantly believe any “screaming” photo.

There are a number of ways to ID a photo-fake. If you use Google Chrome you simply need to right-click on an image and select the option of searching for the image in Google.

If you use a different browser (one without this default image-search option), you can install a special plug-in; there are many. For example, a very useful one is Who stole my pictures. The benefit of this plug-in is that it can search not only on Google, but also on Yandex, Tineye, or all three at once.

If you do not have Chrome and do not have the option of installing a plug-in, you can do without them. You simply need to have two tabs open in your browser: one tab contains the page with the subject image; the second tab contains the Google Images page. Go to the first tab, and use your mouse to grab the subject image, then drag it to the second tab, and finally drop it into the search bar of the Google Images page.

This way you can also search for images from your own hard drive: simply drag-and-drop the image file into the Google Images search bar.

As a result of this method you can examine two very important aspects. The first is whether the image is original, or if has been subject to photo-editing software. In our example it is evident that the image has been modified to include enlarged flames, so as to depict a post-bombardment City of Donetsk.

The second aspect is the image’s date of publishing, and its true subject matter.