Tracing Digital Deception: How OSINT Can Stop Falsehoods From Going Viral

There’s a saying often attributed to Mark Twain: “A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth puts on its shoes.” Whether Mr. Twain actually said that is uncertain (and a potential case of misinformation itself), but what isn’t debatable is that disinformation — false information deliberately created and spread to deceive — and misinformation — inaccurate information spread without malicious intent — spread quickly, especially on the internet. Lies, intentional or not, can proliferate rapidly, often outpacing official communications and other efforts to contain or correct them.

Increasingly, OSINT investigators need the ability to quickly identify and trace false narratives to their source, including on numerous social media platforms and messaging boards. Today, we’ll explore how advanced open-source intelligence (OSINT) tools and techniques can be instrumental in unmasking the sources of false information.

A Cautionary Tale from an Unraveled Web of Misinformation

Just before 11:50 am local time on Monday, July 29, police were called to reports of a stabbing in Southport, United Kingdom. Officers arrived at the scene to find multiple victims, including several children, three of whom tragically died of their injuries.

Following this incident, social media chatter falsely identifying the suspect as an asylum seeker named "Ali Al-Shakati," who had arrived in the UK on a small boat in 2023, quickly spread online, gaining millions of impressions. When the correct suspect was identified as Axel Rudakubana, there were again false claims that he was a Muslim immigrant. This combination of inflammatory posts ultimately led to violent, anti-immigration gatherings across the UK.

The misinformation about Ali Al-Shakati was traced to its source, allegedly a single social media post posted by Bernadette Spofforth stating, “Ali Al-Shakati was the suspect. He was an asylum seeker who came to the UK by boat last year and was on an MI6 watch list.” This incident demonstrates the volatile nature of unchecked misinformation and the crucial need for effective tools to scan for harmful content and trace it back to its origin.

The case highlights several critical issues for investigators tackling modern disinformation:

• The speed at which false information can spread online across multiple platforms
• The challenge of tracing content back to its original source
• The real-world consequences of unchecked digital misinformation
• The challenges faced by law enforcement in countering false narratives
• The need for robust tools to analyze online content in real-time to support the swift, accurate identification of the source 

The Role of Situational Awareness OSINT Tools in Crisis Management

When false information spreads quickly online, finding the source is often an important first step for investigators, whether to determine the origin or to take action against the responsible party. Cases like the Ali Al-Shakati misinformation demonstrate how OSINT tools are invaluable to organizations that need to quickly understand the source and spread of misinformation. 

These tools, like Skopenow's Grid, offer a powerful solution to the challenge of finding every relevant post, enabling the investigator to trace the content to its source. Here's a workflow for how you can leverage situational awareness and OSINT investigation tools to unravel the flow of false narratives and take appropriate action to counter them:

1. Early Keyword Detection and Verification: Scan vast amounts of real-time and historical content for phrases across social media, message boards, and websites. This enables investigators to identify bad information as quickly as possible and understand how the false narrative materialized. In the Ali Al-Shakati case, this would involve searching for the earliest mentions of his name.
2. Cross-Platform Analysis and Spread Analysis: Misinformation often jumps between platforms. Review multiple platforms simultaneously to provide a comprehensive view of the spread of a false narrative. This would reveal how the Al-Shakati name jumped between sites and where it gained the most traction.
3. Sentiment and Content Evolution Analysis: Gauge public sentiment in relevant posts and analyze how the false narrative evolved. This could show how the Al-Shakati story changed over time and led to major public disruption.
4. Network Mapping: Map connections between accounts sharing the misinformation to reveal patterns of coordination. In the Al-Shakati case, this could uncover any organized efforts to spread the false narrative.
5. Timestamp Analysis and Source Identification: Analyze post timestamps to generate a timeline. This would pinpoint when and where the Al-Shakati claim first appeared online and confirm the original source.
6. Resource Allocation: Use findings to support taking action against key players who created and modified the disinformation, empowering police and prosecutors to hold parties accountable.

Automating Disinformation Research with Skopenow

The ability to quickly and accurately identify the sources of false information is crucial. The “Ali Al-Shakati” case demonstrates the usefulness of OSINT platforms in quickly identifying sources of bad information. Tools like Skopenow's Grid can trace false narratives back to their origins, allowing for swift action to counter their spread. As misinformation continues to pose significant challenges to public safety and social stability, this emerging class of software has become indispensable for law enforcement, crisis management teams, and organizations dealing with sensitive public issues.

Join over 1,500 organizations, including 20% of the Fortune 500 and numerous large government agencies, that rely on Skopenow's platform to automatically collect and process relevant publicly available information and make better decisions. Learn more and schedule a personalized demo today at www.skopenow.com/try.