SKILL / Media
Plans: Pro & AgencyPublic Image Matching
Investigate exact and visually similar image appearances, containing pages and possible avatar, logo or contextual uses.
Read the step-by-step user guidePublic Image Matching answers the question investigators ask about a profile photo, logo or screenshot: where else does this image appear online, and in what context? In Nexus the investigator receives a list of pages showing the same image or a close visual match, each linked to the page itself. Candidates are labeled by their apparent use—an account avatar, an organization logo, an illustration in an article or a product listing—so a reused profile picture is not confused with a look-alike stock photo.
What you get
A sourced list of where an image appears online, labeled by likely use and separated from visual look-alikes.
Using Public Image Matching in an investigation
Exact appearances and visually similar ones are kept in separate groups. An exact appearance can suggest that two accounts share a photo; a visual match only tells the investigator that two images resemble each other. Public Image Matching presents both without deciding which person or organization is behind them, and it records the pages it could not retrieve or inspect as gaps rather than dismissing them. Findings that rest on similarity alone are marked as possible matches so they are not mistaken for verified associations.
Within a Nexus case, every image appearance is an evidence record with its source page and retrieval context preserved, which matters when a finding may later be challenged. Accounts or sites that share the image can be added to the case graph as candidate associations, and the investigator can follow up with Public Profile Discovery or Public Social-Profile Enrichment to test whether a shared image points to a shared identity. The image evidence can then be included in a structured PDF report.
Example objectives
Run the Skill directly, or describe the objective in your own words — these are the kinds of questions it is built to answer.
Ask Nexus
“Where else does this profile photo appear online, and is it used as an avatar on other accounts?”
Ask Nexus
“Is this company logo being used on websites that are not linked to the company?”
Ask Nexus
“Find the earliest page on which this image was published.”
How Public Image Matching fits the investigation
A Skill is one move inside a case. The findings stay in the case file, where the evidence behind them can be checked, graphed and reported.
- 01
Choose or describe
Pick the Skill from the Skill Library, or describe the objective in your own words and let Nexus work out which Skills fit the question.
- 02
Review the evidence
Open the evidence record behind any finding and read the original public source before you rely on what it says.
- 03
Add to the case graph
Promote the people, organizations and identifiers you accept into the case relationship graph, straight from their evidence records.
- 04
Brief and report
Turn the case into a BLUF situation brief and, on Pro and Agency, into a structured PDF report with chain of custody.
Evidence before conclusions
What Public Image Matching cannot establish
Nexus keeps supported findings, possible matches, contradictions and information gaps apart instead of blending them into one narrative. These are the boundaries Public Image Matching states up front.
- A shared or similar image is a lead, not proof that two accounts belong to the same person or that a site is authorized to use a logo.
- Public Image Matching cannot establish who created an image, who owns its rights, whether its use was consented to, or where it first appeared.
- If no appearances are found, the image may still exist on pages that are private, removed or not indexed.
Best for
Teams that reach for Public Image Matching most often.
Related OSINT concepts
The vocabulary this Skill works in, defined in the glossary.
Related Skills
Skills investigators commonly run next, in the same case.
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of images can Public Image Matching investigate?
Public Image Matching works with any image the investigator supplies or references in a case: a profile photo, a company logo, a product picture, a screenshot or an image taken from a website. Nexus looks for pages where the same image or a close visual match appears and reports each appearance with its source page and apparent use, such as an avatar, a logo or an illustration in an article.
Does Public Image Matching prove that two accounts belong to the same person?
Public Image Matching does not prove that two accounts belong to the same person: a shared photo is a lead that two accounts may be connected, and Public Image Matching reports it as a possible association with the pages that support it. People reuse stock images, copy other users’ pictures and run impersonation accounts, so the investigator should test the lead with Public Profile Discovery or Public Social-Profile Enrichment before treating the accounts as the same person.
How does Public Image Matching handle images that merely look similar?
Public Image Matching keeps exact appearances and visually similar images in separate groups. An exact appearance means the same image was found on another page; a visual match means only that the images resemble each other, which is common with stock photography, generic logos and edited copies. Both are shown with their sources, and neither is presented as proof of identity, ownership or where the image originated.
Which Nexus plan includes Public Image Matching?
Public Image Matching is included in the Skill Library on the Pro and Agency plans. Pro includes 43 of the 47 investigative Skills and Agency includes all 47. Every plan uses credits for investigations, and a plan can be upgraded from within Nexus at any time.