No single visual clue, watermark check, or AI detector can prove that a video is authentic. To assess a clip, preserve the best-quality file you can find, investigate who posted it and when it first appeared, compare it with independent evidence, and check any available provenance signals. Keep separate the questions of whether the media was altered, where and when it was recorded, whether its provenance record is intact, and whether its caption is true.
What does it mean for a video to be authentic?
“Real or AI-generated?” can conceal several different questions. A video may show genuine footage but have a false caption about its location or date. It may be edited without being AI-generated, or be generated or altered while still depicting a real event. A provenance record can describe a file’s history without proving that the scene happened as claimed.
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- Media integrity: Do the image or sound appear generated, manipulated, or edited?
- Origin and chronology: Who recorded or first published the clip, and when and where?
- Provenance: Is there a verifiable record of the file’s origin or changes?
- Claim accuracy: Does the caption’s account of the event match independent evidence?
Assess each question on its own. Evidence that answers one does not automatically settle the others.
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- Preserve the best available copy. Keep the original file if you can obtain it, and save the post URL, account name, date, caption, and claimed location. Prefer a source file or original download over a screenshot or a screen recording: uploads, downloads, and conversions can remove metadata or weaken other signals. Keep an unaltered evidence copy.
- Write down the claim and assess the uploader. Identify exactly what the post says happened, where, and when. Check whether the account is identifiable and has a record of credible reporting, but treat reputation as context—not proof. Search distinctive phrases, names, landmarks, and event details from the caption.
- Look for the earliest appearance. Search the clip and its description, then reverse-search several representative frames. Compare the dates and context of possible earlier copies. An earlier upload predating the alleged event can disprove that particular date or caption, though it does not by itself show how the footage was made. A reverse-search match may be similar footage rather than the same file; open it and check its context before drawing a conclusion. The House of Commons Library’s guide to verifying images and videos names tools including TinEye, Bing, Google, and InVID.
- Seek independent corroboration. Look for other footage, photographs, credible reporting, or first-hand accounts that independently show the same event. Compare viewpoints, landmarks, signs, weather, shadows, and timeline. Many accounts repeating one repost are not many independent sources.
- Check available provenance and metadata. If you have the original file, inspect its metadata and check whether it carries C2PA Content Credentials or a supported provider watermark. Read what the verifier says about the issuer and validation status. Missing metadata or credentials is inconclusive; their presence does not prove the scene or caption is true.
- Review image and sound for leads. Look for inconsistent details, garbled text, implausible reflections or shadows, unnatural repetition, lip-sync mismatch, or abrupt changes in texture or sound. Treat these as reasons to investigate further, not verdicts: compression, ordinary editing, and motion can also produce artifacts.
- Report what the evidence supports. State what you established—such as an earlier matching upload, the account that posted the file, or a credential’s validation status—and what remains uncertain. If the available evidence does not settle authenticity, say that rather than labeling the clip real or fake based on one clue or tool.
What provenance checks can—and cannot—tell you
C2PA Content Credentials
C2PA credentials can provide a cryptographically bound record of provenance assertions, potentially including a file’s origin, changes, and AI use. A verifier can check the record’s integrity and the signer relationship. That establishes information about the file’s recorded history—not whether the depicted event occurred or the caption is accurate. C2PA describes the standard as a complement to fact-checking and digital forensics, “not a cure-all for misinformation.” Read the C2PA Content Credentials explainer, version 2.2 for the standard’s scope and limits.
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Provider-specific watermarks and checks
A watermark checker can be useful when it supports the relevant provider’s signal and media type; it is not a universal AI detector. Google says SynthID checks can identify supported Google AI-generated or edited media, and that the signal may remain detectable after some transformations. Repeated alterations can prevent detection, so a negative result does not settle the question.
OpenAI’s content provenance documentation describes API checks for supported OpenAI provenance signals in images and audio. It says a not_detected result does not rule out OpenAI generation and that the checks do not detect other companies’ models. The documented scope is not a general video-authenticity test.
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Metadata
Metadata may contain useful capture details, but platforms can strip it and users can edit it. Its absence is not proof of fakery, and its presence is not conclusive proof of origin. The House of Commons Library briefing explains these limitations and why the original file is preferable when checking metadata.
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Reverse search and visual inspection
Reverse search helps trace earlier appearances and context; it does not certify a clip. Visual inspection can surface leads, but distinguishing real, AI-enhanced, and fully generated media by sight can be difficult. The Commons Library briefing and Google’s guidance both emphasize limits to visual detection.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to word a careful conclusion
Describe findings precisely instead of forcing a binary verdict. For example, you might say that a matching clip appeared online before the date claimed in the post, while noting that this does not establish how it was created. Or you might report that a credential validated for a particular signer, while making clear that this says nothing by itself about the truth of the scene. If you could not find the original or independent corroboration, identify that gap without treating it as evidence of fakery.
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For broader guidance on verification services and attribution signals, see Ofcom’s Deepfake Defences 2: The Attribution Toolkit.
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