Reverse Image Search: Your First Step Towards Verification

In this series, we will take you through the basics of verifying an image online.

Concerned about an image you received on WhatsApp? Verify kiya kya?

(Photo: Deeksha Malhotra/The Quint)

Script & Editorial Inputs: Kritika Goel & Abhilash Mallick

Video Editor: Prashant Chauhan

How often have you believed something because you were shown a picture to prove a point? And, what if I tell you that images can be used to mislead as well.

Yes, very often, old and unrelated images are used on the internet to spread mis/disinformation.

But before I tell you how you can verify images online, let me tell you a few things that you would want to keep in your mind to ensure that you are not being tricked into believing something.

• Verify: Before you forward anything that you have seen on social media or even received on WhatsApp, it's a good idea to pause, verify and then hit send.

• Emotions: Our emotions play a very important role in what we believe in. So, if something makes you terribly sad, angry, happy, then you might want to check that information before you share it. Of course, we don't mean that every good thing is misleading, but some can be.

• Confirmation Bias: Third, our biases often come in the way of what we believe. If I believe in something and someone says something which confirms my bias, then I might quickly believe it. But that might not be the truth.

More on all this later, let me first tell you how to verify an image.

How to Verify Images Online?

STEP 1: ADD INVID EXTENSION TO YOUR BROWSER

Go to Chrome web store, look for InVid and add the extension to your browser.

Go to Chrome web store, look for InVid and add the extension to your browser.

(Source: Google Web Store/Screenshot)

STEP 2: CONDUCT A REVERSE IMAGE SEARCH

Now go to the image that you want to verify. Right-click on it and then the option of fake news debunker by InVid will appear.

(Source: InVid/Screenshot)

It will then drop down to an option which reads 'Image Reverse Search – Google'. When you click on this option, Google will search against the database of similar images.

In this case, we found the image on Pinterest. When we clicked on it, we saw a watermark that read 'Ratul Dhar'.

(Source: Pinterest/Screenshot

We then looked up 'Ratul Dhar' on Google and found this photo on his website which was captioned 'Iztema'.

(Source: Ratul Dhar website/Screenshot)

After this, we conducted another reverse search but this time used 'Iztema' as the keyword and found the image on Alamy and found all the details related to the photo here.

And that's how easily you can verify an image online.

(This is the first video of a series titled 'Verify Kiya Kya?' exploring the nuances of fact-checking and media literacy. In the next video we will touch upon how our emotions make us susceptible to mis/disinformation. Stay tuned!)

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)