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Craig Silverman

@craigsilverman.bsky.social

68K followers 7.4K following 220 posts

Cofounder of https://indicator.media, your essential guide to understanding and investigating digital deception. Sign up for free! Investigative journalist and OSINT trainer. https://craigsilverman.ca

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · May 19

I left my job at ProPublica about a month ago.

Here's why: I've teamed up with @mantzarlis.com to launch indicator.media, a new publication dedicated to exposing digital deception and to equipping professionals and the public with knowledge and skills to investigate it.

Sign up for free below!

Indicator

Indicator is your essential guide to understanding and investigating digital deception.

Indicator.media

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 23h

There are lots of ways to make money on social networks, but creators are increasingly being paid directly by platforms. Meta, TikTok, Snap, & X have programs that pay people based on engagement.

My latest piece shows how to identify monetized accounts:

How to tell if a social media account is monetized

Platforms are paying billions to creators

indicator.media

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 1d

A few months ago, I approached CBC News with a pitch about crypto ATMs, which are a preferred way for fraudsters to extract money from victims. Canada has the most crypto kiosks per capita, but it lags on regulation.

Our first story, with more to come: www.cbc.ca/news/cana...

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 5d

Meta set off a bit of a panic in the OSINT community a few weeks ago by removing the “Posts” filter from Facebook native search.

I contacted the company and got the lowdown on what happened. It's in today's free Indicator Briefing (plus lots more info!):

Briefing: Sloppy Sora surges on the charts

Plus: changes to Facebook search that you need to know about

indicator.media

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Reposted by Craig Silverman

Jared Holt @jaredlholt.bsky.social · 5d

We looked back on the "backlash" against American Eagle ads featuring Sydney Sweeney and her "great jeans." Right-wing media declared that liberals were outraged and thought the ads were racist -- even the White House joined in.

If you thought that story reeked, you'll want to see what we found.

Open Measures @openmeasures.bsky.social · 5d

American Eagle was dragged into an online outrage cycle after conservative media figures claimed that liberals were offended by the clothing company's ads featuring Sydney Sweeney and a denim-themed pun about her "great jeans."

We checked the data. That wasn't true.

openmeasures.io/american-eag...

Outrage Over American Eagle’s ‘Great Jeans’ Ad Was a Conservative Media Creation - Open Measures

Open Measures builds accessible and transparent products to contextualize the spread of harmful online information that impacts public discourse and global events.

openmeasures.io

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 6d

Nice, I hadn't seen this!

Reposted by Craig Silverman

Alexios Mantzarlis @mantzarlis.com · 6d

New on @indicator.media: Almost all major platforms have promised to label AI content on their services, but it can be hard to keep track of who said they do what and how.

I collected information for 8 different platforms in one nifty table, that we will keep updating.

The Indicator Guide to AI labels

We’ve collected in one place how and when major platforms label AI content

indicator.media

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 8d

I would love for you to send me any ads/posts that you come across! [email protected]

Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 8d

Meta removed the ads I flagged and said it banned the ad accounts. Apple banned 2 AI girlfriend apps.

If you'd like to support our work, subscribe for free: indicator.media

Even better, become a paying member to help fund our independent investigative reporting: indicator.media/upgrade

Indicator

Indicator is your essential guide to understanding and investigating digital deception. Sign up for free

indicator.media

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 8d

The ads featured AI-generated images of women exposing their bare breasts, pulling down their pants, humping/gyrating, and appearing to give manual erotic stimulation etc. Some ads featured an AI-generated vid of Taylor Swift seductively sticking a finger in her mouth youtube.com/shorts/RX1Oq...

Taylor Switft AI ad

YouTube video by Indicator

youtube.com

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 8d

One video ad began with a young woman on her knees being lightly slapped across the face, and ended with an image of the app’s menu of sexual positions:

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 8d

This is in addition to the more than 4,000 nudifier ads we reported on a few weeks ago.

Meta announced in June that it had deployed new methods to block nudifier ads. Indicator will continue to report on its progress, or lack thereof.

indicator.media/p/meta-ran-4...

Meta ran 4,000 more ads for AI nudifiers. That may not be the worst part.

The company is making it easy for the advertisers to conceal their identity

indicator.media

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 8d

I found +3,000 Meta ads for nudifiers & AI girlfriend apps that featured bare breasts, simulated sex acts etc.

Meta said in June that it had deployed new methods to block nudifier ads. Indicator will continue to report on its progress, or lack thereof:

Sexually explicit ads for nudifiers and AI girlfriend apps continue to plague Meta

Indicator found thousands of ads that featured bare breasts and simulated sex acts

indicator.media

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Reposted by Craig Silverman

Who Targets Me @whotargets.me · 10d

Google has removed its political ad library in the EU, including historical data. A big loss for transparency and accountability. Shameful.

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 12d

Today's Indicator Briefing is full of insight and tips:

📍How YouTube bent the knee to the Trump admin
📍Anti-slop policies at Spotify & new Community Notes research
📍Inside a viral prompt injection trick that exposed an AI recruiter

Subscribe for free:

Briefing: YouTube bends the knee

Plus:

indicator.media

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Reposted by Craig Silverman

Alexios Mantzarlis @mantzarlis.com · 14d

I listened to 202 minutes of those AI-generated podcasts.

They were not good.

indicator.media/p/this-podca...

I listened to 3 hours of AI-generated podcasts so you didn’t have to

Inception Point AI wants to commodify audio AI slop with “How to Earlobe Kiss” and 4,748 other shows

indicator.media

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Reposted by Craig Silverman

Alexios Mantzarlis @mantzarlis.com · 14d

I don’t think all AI is slop, but I do think all 19 episodes of Inception Point AI’s shows that I listened to are.

Here’s a show about an alligator pooping on Ron DeSantis. I could find no corroborating evidence this allegedly viral event ever happened.

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 16d

Millions of websites run on WordPress. That's good news for investigators, as there are some useful OSINT techniques for WP sites. Here's how to find author accounts, extract images, files, and plugins — and maybe even find something before it's published:

OSINT tips for investigating WordPress sites

How to find author accounts and inspect images, files, and plugins

indicator.media

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Reposted by Craig Silverman

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 17d

Meta exposé author faces bankruptcy after ban on criticising company

Exclusive: Sarah Wynn-Williams faces $50,000 fine every time she breaches order banning her from criticising Meta A former Meta executive who wrote an explosive exposé making allegations about the social media company’s dealings with China and its treatment of teenagers is said to be “on the verge of bankruptcy” after publishing the book. An MP has claimed in parliament that Mark Zuckerberg’s company was trying to “silence and punish” Sarah Wynn-Williams, the former director of global public policy at Meta’s precursor, Facebook, after her decision to speak out about her time at the company. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 19d

I believe this is the most comprehensive guide available anywhere about how to link websites together in order to uncover ownership, connections, and funding.

Check out the Indicator guide to connecting websites together using OSINT tools and methods:

The Indicator guide to connecting websites together using OSINT tools and methods

A deep dive into new and established ways to fingerprint site content and infrastructure, uncover ownership, and more

indicator.media

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 19d

Today's free Briefing has new data about Meta's Community Notes program and a look at how X's program is stagnating. Plus:
📍 Tools for archiving YouTube, and to search for archived vids
📍 Manhole covers and OSINT
📍How AI is being used for fact checking

Briefing: Finally, some data about Meta's Community Notes program

Plus: Tools for archiving YouTube videos, identifying manhole covers, and scanning scam infrastructure

indicator.media

Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 20d

Bookmarklets are useful, free tools to add to your investigative arsenal.

They can extract user IDs, access full-size locked profile photos, decode timestamps from TikTok URLs, and more.

Here's my guide to using OSINT bookmarklets to find hidden info:

How bookmarklets can reveal hidden online profile info and speed up OSINT investigations

A guide to using the free bookmarklets offered by My OSINT Training

indicator.media

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 20d

My latest Indicator Guide looks at 11 OSINT tools to help you capture webpages, social media accounts etc.

I break down their features, provide comparison charts, and share a code that gives you free access to a new web capture tool.

Read it here:

The Indicator guide to tools for capturing and recording webpages and social media content

We tested 11 tools that can help you capture web content

indicator.media

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Reposted by Craig Silverman

Alexios Mantzarlis @mantzarlis.com · 23d

Today on @indicator.media: I found that 53 TikTok videos pushing clickbaity hoaxes about Charlie Kirk's assassination got almost 32 million views in three days.

Most were tied to accounts I've previously reported on for AI slop, scams, and Spanish-language misinformation.

TikTok content farms pivot to Charlie Kirk hoaxes

AI tributes and conspiracy theories about Kirk’s assassination got 32 million views

indicator.media

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Reposted by Craig Silverman

Lizzie O'Leary @lizzieohreally.bsky.social · 26d

Even if you tried not to see the video of Charlie Kirk's shooting, there's a good chance you did. @craigsilverman.bsky.social and I talk about why. slate.com/podcasts/wha...

You Can’t Escape the Charlie Kirk Video

Videos of death aren’t hard to find on social media. Often they’ll find you.

slate.com

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Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 26d

Credit to @mschenk.bsky.social for sharing the info about Busta Troll: bsky.app/profile/msch...

Maarten Schenk @mschenk.bsky.social · 29d

Christopher Blair, A.K.A. Busta Troll, a man who has made a career out of trolling conservatives on Facebook by tricking them into liking and sharing fake content (that often got picked up and repeated by spam networks, influencers, etc.), just posted this.

The brakes are completely off at Meta...

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