Dataharvest 2026 - the European Investigative Journalism Conference

This session is based on a case from Serbia, where we managed to identify a person whose identity Serbian authorities and pro-government media actively tried to hide. Starting from a blurred face in a leaked video, we combined basic OSINT with business registries, social networks, geolocation, face recognition tools, dark web email searches, and simple AI-assisted image analysis. We will walk the audience through each phase of the process,  and explain what worked, what failed, and how one can verify findings when evidence is being altered or erased in real time.

Attendees will leave with a practical workflow they can reuse in their own investigations: how to move from a fragment of visual evidence to a confirmed identity, how to cross-check business data with social platforms, how to use face search and morphological comparison safely, how to track digital behavior after supposed arrests, and how to document disappearing online traces before they are wiped. The goal is to share a method that can travel across borders and work in any country where power structures try to keep people invisible.