Detect inauthentic content and coordinated operations.

Learn to identify inauthentic content, bot networks, and coordinated influence operations using systematic OSINT methodologies.

Understand the why, not just the what

Go beyond spotting false content. Analyse the strategic objectives, narratives, and actor capabilities behind disinformation campaigns.

Collect, classify, and visualise at scale

Use scraping tools, structured coding frameworks, and data visualisation techniques to investigate cross-platform disinformation networks.

ABOUT THIS COURSE

Disinformation operations are increasingly sophisticated, leveraging coordinated inauthentic behaviour across multiple platforms to achieve strategic objectives. 

This course equips you with the tools and techniques to detect, collect, and analyse inauthentic content — from identifying narratives and evaluating sources through to scraping social media data, coding content, and mapping networks using Excel and visualisation software. 

You'll apply everything in a guided cross-platform investigation that mirrors real-world disinformation analysis workflows.

ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETE

This course takes approximately 12–15 hours to complete. It is entirely self-paced, so you can work through it intensively over a few days or spread it across several weeks.

WHO THIS COURSE IS FOR

This course is designed for intelligence analysts, investigators, researchers, and security professionals who need to understand and counter disinformation as part of their operational role. 

It suits practitioners working in national security, law enforcement, policy, journalism, or corporate security who encounter influence operations, foreign interference, or coordinated inauthentic behaviour.


PREREQUISITES

Completion of OSINT Primer or equivalent foundational OSINT experience is recommended.

No prior experience with disinformation analysis, scraping tools, or data visualisation is needed.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Leveraging Generative AI for OSINT — Generative AI is both a tool for analysts and a vector for disinformation. This course teaches you to integrate AI throughout the intelligence cycle, including detecting AI-generated content, which directly extends the verification skills developed here.

The OSINT Redbook: Exploring the Chinese Internet — Many of the state-actor campaigns examined in this course originate from or target Chinese information environments. This course builds the capability to navigate China's digital landscape, including search engines, social media platforms, and government repositories.

COURSE CURRICULUM

    1. Introduction and Course Overview

    2. Before We Begin..

    3. Disinformation Primer

    4. Introduction to Disinformation

    5. Key Definitions

    6. Quiz - Definitions

    1. The Importance of Narratives

    2. Identifying Narratives

    3. State Actor Intent and Capability

    4. State Actor Intent and Capability

    5. Case Study - Xinjiang Information Operations

    1. Inauthentic Content Analysis Map

    2. Investigating Websites

    3. Reverse Image Searching

    4. Reverse Image Searching

    5. Reverse Image Searching - Activity

    6. Reverse Image Search Quiz

    7. Evaluating Online Sources

    8. Evaluating Online Sources

    9. Trolls and Bots

    10. Investigating Trolls and Bots

    11. Trolls and Bots Quiz

    1. The Changing Social Media Environment

    2. Think Like a Bot

    3. Scraping and Data Retrieval

    4. Web Scraping with Data Miner

    5. Web Scraping with Simple Scraper

    6. Coding and Classifying Inauthentic Content

    7. Forums and Messageboards

    8. Collecting from Forums and Messageboards

    9. Reddit

    10. Reddit Searching

    11. Activity

    1. Simple Data Visualisations

    2. Tabulated Analysis of X (Twitter) Datasets

    3. Tabulated Analysis and Data Visualisation

    4. Analysing Bot Networks

    1. Applied Cross-Platform Disinformation Investigation

    2. Planning and Direction

    3. Collection - Facebook

    4. Collecting Facebook Page Data

    5. Collection - Websites

    6. Collection - Websites II

    7. Collection - Telegram

    8. Collection - Telegram (RSS Feed)

    9. Collection - Telegram (with Account)

    10. Collection - Telegram (with Account) Demo

    11. Collection - Other Platforms and Archives

    12. Collection - Archives

    13. Processing and Formatting our Data

    14. Choosing the Right Format

    15. Python with ChatGPT

    16. Python Sample Script - JSON to CSV

    17. Python CSV Processing

    18. Tabulated Analysis of Our Data

    19. Timeline Analysis in Excel

    20. Content Analysis

    21. Python Sample Script - Keyword Extraction

    22. Further Analysis

    23. Further Analysis - Quiz

    24. Further Analysis - Forwarded Posts

COURSE SNAPSHOT

  • $499.00
  • 62 lessons
  • 3.5 hours of video content