How to spot a deepfake videoClues and platform labels help; they are not proof

TimeBinder adds a layer of protection against AI and human fraud and disputes.

The file stays on your device. Your browser makes a digital fingerprint of the file. TimeBinder records the fingerprint and the time, not the file.

Short answer

A deepfake is altered or synthetic video that often impersonates a real person. Visual and audio tells can help, but newer tools hide them, and labels only help if they remain attached. A dated record shows that exact file existed no later than a recorded time. It does not detect a fake.

Clues, labels and their limits

A deepfake is usually made to impersonate a real person. Fully generated video (a scene or product that never existed) is a related problem with some of the same limits. Common visual and audio tells — uneven blinking, a jaw that does not quite match, lighting that slips, speech that is slightly out of sync — can still appear. They are easy to miss, and newer generators hide them.

If the file or the platform still carries a label, read it. Content Credentials may say a clip was generated or edited, when they are still attached. YouTube, TikTok and Instagram also apply their own AI labels in some cases; those labels can be absent, delayed or applied to the wrong file. See YouTube AI disclosure and TikTok and Instagram AI labels for what creators should keep. For the context when authenticity is disputed, see deepfake or genuine: what a dated file can show and if the other side says your evidence is a deepfake.

What helps if the video is yours

Keep camera-original footage, project files and a note of when and where you recorded, not only a compressed upload. A TimeBind records a SHA-256 fingerprint of the exact file you choose and a time. The fingerprint is made in your browser; the file is not uploaded. It shows that this file existed no later than the recorded time and still matches. It does not detect a deepfake, prove the people or events are real, or show that a later re-encoded copy is the same file.

A public walk-through of records to keep, without overclaiming, is in the guide to protecting yourself from AI forgeries.

Make a TimeBind: first one free →

First Pooled TimeBind free, no card, then from US$5. An ASAP TimeBind is US$15.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a deepfake and AI-generated video?

People often use “deepfake” for a clip that impersonates a real person. AI-generated video can also mean a wholly synthetic scene with no real subject. The checks and the limits are similar: labels and visual clues are not proof.

Can I trust a YouTube, TikTok or Instagram AI label?

Treat it as a platform claim about that upload, not as independent proof. Labels can be missing, late, or applied after a re-upload. Keep your own original file.

If someone says my video is a deepfake, what helps?

Produce the earliest original file, any earlier copies you sent, and a dated record of that exact file if you made one. A TimeBind shows timing and a match. It does not, by itself, prove the scene is genuine. See if the other side says your evidence is a deepfake.

Does a TimeBind prove a video is genuine?

No. It shows that this exact file existed no later than the recorded time and still matches. It does not detect a fake and it does not prove who appears in the video or that the events happened.

Sources

C2PA, Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (signed provenance labels for media files).
TimeBinder, Deepfake or genuine? What a dated file can show and If the other side says your evidence is a deepfake.

Related guides and tools

Your file’s fingerprint, anchored to a global network secured by real electricity and cryptography.

Editing a file—including with AI—changes its fingerprint, not its existing network record.

How this works

Your file’s SHA-256 fingerprint, a short code worked out from its exact contents, is made in your browser, and the file itself stays on your device. A cryptographic commitment to that fingerprint, which may be combined with others, is then anchored in a block on the Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin is secured by proof of work: computers around the world spend real electricity to add each block, and changing an earlier block would mean redoing that work faster than the rest of the network. Until that block is confirmed, your proof is pending. Once the Bitcoin anchoring is confirmed, you can verify the proof against that recorded commitment. The confirmed record can then be checked; Pooled TimeBinds are checked through TimeBinder, while ASAP TimeBinds can also be checked independently. If you check the file later and its fingerprint still matches, that shows the file existed no later than the recorded time. The record doesn’t show who made the file, whether AI was used, or that its contents are true.

Your filestays on your device
FingerprintSHA-256
Network timestampon Bitcoin

Record a fingerprint of the file you rely on

Add a layer of protection against AI and human fraud and disputes: a dated, checkable record of the exact file you hold.

Open the app and sign in with email or Google.
Add your files. They stay on your computer.
Seal them and download your Proof of Time certificates.

Open TimeBinder →

First Pooled TimeBind free, no card, then from US$5. See pricing.

Related glossary entries: deepfake detection and likeness detection (YouTube).