Open-source investigations
Who’s really behind the sites you read?
We trace websites, networks and online campaigns back to the people and companies that run them, using only public records anyone can check, explained so anyone can follow.
- Public records onlyAd registries, site code, hosting settings and what companies say about themselves.
- Every claim, linked and savedEach finding links to its source, plus a saved copy in case the original disappears.
- Free to reuseFindings and data are public domain (CC0). Republish them, no permission needed.
Investigations
Latest findings
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No. 1 ·
154 “independent” news sites. One back office.
154 websites present themselves as separate conservative news outlets, naming 50 different publishers in 13 states. Public ad records and the sites’ own code show they share one back office, leading to an email-marketing business in La Jolla, California.
154“independent” news sites50publisher names13states of mailing addresses1shared back office
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About
How we work
Websites leave fingerprints: the ad accounts that pay them, the software they run, the servers they share and the records ad companies are required to publish. Read together, those fingerprints show when “independent” outlets are really one operation.
We publish what the records show, explain what they don’t, and save copies of the underlying records in an evidence section so anyone can verify our work even if the sites later change or delete their records. We don’t allege crimes, and we redact information that looks like a private individual’s name.
Reuse. Everything we publish (findings, text, charts and data) is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0.