Podcast Summary: The Shifting World of OSINT (with Craig Silverman)

The 404 Media Podcast – December 29, 2025
Host: 404 Media; Guest: Craig Silverman (Indicator Media)

Episode Overview

This episode features a deep-dive interview with veteran journalist Craig Silverman, cofounder of Indicator Media, focusing on the evolution and current landscape of OSINT (Open Source Intelligence). The discussion covers the shift from viral debunkings and fact-checking to digital forensics, the rise of OSINT as an industry, the challenges inherent to rapid technological changes, ad fraud investigations, and how journalists can stay ahead of the curve. Along the way, practical insights, memorable anecdotes, and actionable recommendations are peppered throughout.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Craig Silverman's Career Path & Entry into OSINT

• BuzzFeed Years & Debunking Viral Hoaxes

  • Silverman recaps joining BuzzFeed News as the founding editor of BuzzFeed Canada, initially focused on Canadian news. In 2016, he shifted to debunking viral hoaxes and disinformation, particularly around major world events (e.g., the 2016 US election).
  • “I went back on to like hoaxes and viral fakes and trying to figure out how to make debunkings of false stuff go viral, which no one has still figured out. The debunks always lose.” – Craig (03:09)
  • Fact-checking had an initial deterrence effect on politicians, but norms eroded with the Trump era, diminishing its power. (05:04)

• Transition & Broadening Scope Beyond Fact-Checking

  • After Facebook (now Meta) began funding professional fact-checking in 2017, Silverman pivoted toward broader investigations—digital deception and infrastructure, including advertising fraud. (08:15)
  • “So I need to do things other than debunking. That was the big moment for me.” – Craig (08:34)

The Evolution of OSINT and Digital Forensics in Journalism

• Origins in Verification and Early OSINT

  • Silverman’s early focus was verifying online content and media corrections, eventually becoming a leading voice simply by specializing in what few others covered. (11:13)
  • Technology and social platforms disrupted “old model” newsroom verification, accelerating the pace and volume of questionable content. (12:11)

• From Verifying Single Images to Massive Information Flows

  • Early incidents like Hurricane Sandy’s viral “street shark” hoax (2012) are now deemed “quaint” compared to the deluge of today’s real-time misinformation. (12:41)

• Expanding Technical Skills

  • Silverman learned web infrastructure sleuthing—WHOIS, tracking pixels, domain info, and platform sleuthing—out of necessity and curiosity. He contributed to seminal resources, like the Verification Handbook (2014), establishing industry standards. (15:08)

Staying Ahead in a Rapidly-Shifting OSINT Landscape

• The Fragility of Tools and the Central Role of Creativity

  • Techniques such as Facebook Graph search enabled robust investigations but are routinely shut down, demanding constant innovation and flexibility. (16:13)
  • “Tools are not actually the same sustainable way to do this. It is your creativity and your thinking and your willingness to kind of poke and try a bunch of different stuff.” – Craig (16:22)
  • Learning from “bad actors” and those pushing ethical boundaries is crucial, as their methods often reveal new vulnerabilities and investigative paths. (17:34)

• Navigating Ethical Dilemmas

  • Dual-use tools present ethical quandaries—journalists can use them for truth, but so can malicious actors for harm. Reporters sometimes face choices that may risk shutting down useful tools by exposing them, but public interest must come first. (19:19)

The Rise (and Problems) of the OSINT Industry

• From Grassroots to Commercial Ecosystem

  • OSINT, once a niche of oddball journalists and nerds, is now replete with newsletters, companies, and paid tools, many of which are proprietary spins on formerly open-source community efforts. (23:01)
  • “There was a spirit of this open source information … now there’s a business opportunity.” – Craig (23:21)

• Emergence of Fake OSINT and Grifts

  • The Ukraine war accelerated the proliferation of “fake OSINT” accounts, especially on X (Twitter), where accounts posture as authoritative sources but disseminate misleading or context-free content for clicks and cash. (24:53)
  • “We saw this emergence … of just these total bullshit accounts on X and tons and tons on telegram calling themselves like OSINT this or OSINT that.” – Craig (24:45)

Recommended OSINT Resources & Newsletters

• Notable OSINT Newsletters ([27:14])
  • Field Notes by Benjamin Strick – Focuses on in-depth visual and geolocation OSINT, accessible and practical.
  • The OSINT Newsletter by Jake Kreps – Regular tools/tips roundups; more technical content is paid but essential for those learning programming aspects.
  • Newcomers should look for “Intro to OSINT” posts in The OSINT Newsletter’s recent free editions.

Digital Ad Fraud Investigations

• Getting Into Ad Fraud (BuzzFeed & ProPublica)

  • Silverman became interested after reading about large-scale ad scams, discovering how digital advertising, premised on total transparency, evolved into an opaque, easily exploited system. (29:26)
  • “What ended up getting built was a completely opaque, fraud filled, criminal filled, insane piece of shit system, pardon my language…” – Craig (31:22)

• Breaking Down the Systemic Flaws

  • Proposed industry transparency standards (ads.txt, sellers.json) offered new investigative tools, but major players (notably Google) skirted full transparency, leaving gaps exploited by bad actors. (32:55)
  • “Every other major ad network would list the domain … Google’s list was, I think, about 80% anonymous.” – Craig (34:04)

Going Independent – Launching Indicator Media

• Founding Motivations & Platform

  • Silverman and cofounder Alexios Manzarlis launched Indicator Media to focus on digital deception, OSINT guides, and investigative reporting. Independence allows quick pivots, teaching opportunities, and engagement with new platforms and stories. (36:41)
  • Chose the Beehive platform, benefiting from startup support, community, and tools for independent journalists. (41:04)

• Recent Tutorials and Practical Guides

  • Latest: Guide to discovering sensitive company/government documents inadvertently exposed online (Google dorking, searching open cloud buckets, etc.). Includes methods and rationales for why such leaks occur. (42:39)
  • Past: Reviews of free or low-cost social media monitoring tools, essential in a post-CrowdTangle, post-TweetDeck world. (44:03)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Debunking’s Limitations:
  “You're not going to read one thing that's laid out in a sort of factual way and be like, oh my God, I've been so wrong.” – Craig Silverman (04:56)

• On OSINT’s Ethical Challenges:
  “There's always those two minds that are sort of battling it out a little bit of like, man, I would really like to use this, but holy crap, maybe this shouldn’t exist, you know?” – Craig (19:36)

• On Industry Shifts:
  “A lot of companies now [are] building paid products on things that started as open source...” – Craig (23:15)

• On OSINT Grifters:
  “It became a massive grift basically on X where you would call yourself OSINT Insider … and then look at this photo, blah blah blah … I just tweet this photo and I get a shit ton of retweets and potentially, you know, some grifter money…” – Host (25:28)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:27] – Craig’s early years at BuzzFeed, focus shift to debunking and fact-checking
• [04:27] – Why debunking fails to change strongly-held beliefs
• [08:15] – Facebook’s entry into fact-checking and Craig’s change in focus
• [11:11] – Building expertise in verification and early OSINT
• [12:41] – From verifying single images (e.g., Hurricane Sandy) to today’s relentless info-stream
• [16:13] – Fragility of OSINT tools, learning by adaptation
• [19:19] – The ethics and consequences of exposing vulnerability (dual-use dilemma)
• [22:56] – OSINT becomes an industry, proliferation of newsletters and tools
• [24:45] – Rise of “fake OSINT” and its consequences
• [27:14] – Newsletter recommendations for keeping up with OSINT developments
• [29:26] – Entry into investigating digital ad fraud
• [32:55] – Transparency standards in advertising and continued systemic exploitation
• [36:41] – Launching Indicator Media, goals and approach
• [42:39] – Recent guides and hands-on tutorials at Indicator

Closing Thoughts

Silverman’s journey mirrors the evolution of networked open-source investigation: from the halcyon days of fact-checking viral photos to the murky, business-driven, and sometimes adversarial world of modern OSINT. His pragmatic emphasis on constant learning, ethical navigation, and community knowledge-sharing offers an essential roadmap for journalists, researchers, and curious technophiles alike.

For hands-on guides, investigative reporting tips, and the latest in OSINT best practices, check out Indicator Media.