{
"researched": "2026-08-25",
"advice": "Pixels are the only broadly portable layer. LinkedIn documents C2PA display, but rollout and self-signed credential handling are unverified. Test your exact upload path.",
"how_to_verify": "Verify a row with the exact account, app, file type, and upload path you use:\n\n 1. credit photo.jpg --creator \"Your Name\" --copyright \"© Your Name\" \\\n --stamp \"Your Name\" --sign --digital-source camera\n 2. Save `snitch --json photo-credited.jpg` as the before report.\n 3. Upload it to the platform and record whether a provenance/AI label appears.\n 4. Download the highest-quality public derivative; do not use your retained local original.\n 5. Save `snitch --json downloaded.jpg` and compare every layer with the before report.\n\nPlatform behaviour varies by feed/story/ad/message route, client, account, format, and date. A label\nshown by the platform proves ingestion, not that the downloadable derivative kept the metadata.",
"legend": {
"D": "documented",
"C": "corroborated",
"?": "unverified inference"
},
"symbols": {
"verdict": {
"keeps": "keeps",
"strips": "STRIPS",
"partial": "partial",
"reads": "reads",
"unknown": "unknown"
},
"evidence": {
"documented": "D",
"corroborated": "C",
"inference": "?"
}
},
"layers": [
{
"key": "visible",
"label": "Visible stamp",
"description": "Pixels; may be cropped, resized, softened, or screenshotted."
},
{
"key": "c2pa",
"label": "C2PA Content Credentials",
"description": "Signed provenance manifest and platform UI support."
},
{
"key": "iptc_xmp",
"label": "IPTC / XMP",
"description": "Creator, credit, copyright, rights, and source fields."
},
{
"key": "exif",
"label": "EXIF",
"description": "Camera, lens, date, orientation, and GPS."
}
],
"platforms": {
"LinkedIn": {
"exif": {
"verdict": "unknown",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "No current LinkedIn source found for EXIF in the public/downloadable derivative. The previous STRIPS claim was not live-tested.",
"sources": []
},
"iptc_xmp": {
"verdict": "unknown",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "No current LinkedIn source found for IPTC/XMP credit fields in the public/downloadable derivative. The previous STRIPS claim was not live-tested.",
"sources": []
},
"c2pa": {
"verdict": "partial",
"evidence": "documented",
"note": "LinkedIn documents an icon and metadata panel for uploads containing C2PA data, but says rollout is gradual. It does not document whether this tool's untrusted self-signed credentials qualify or whether a downloaded derivative retains the manifest.",
"sources": [
{
"title": "LinkedIn Help — Content credentials",
"url": "https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a6282984"
}
]
},
"visible": {
"verdict": "keeps",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "Expected to remain in displayed pixels, subject to cropping and re-encoding. Not upload/download tested in this review.",
"sources": []
}
},
"Instagram": {
"exif": {
"verdict": "unknown",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "Meta documents collecting media metadata, but no current source found defines EXIF fields in Instagram's public/downloadable derivative.",
"sources": []
},
"iptc_xmp": {
"verdict": "partial",
"evidence": "documented",
"note": "Meta documents reading IPTC AI-generation signals for labels. That does not establish that creator, copyright, or rights fields survive in a downloadable derivative.",
"sources": [
{
"title": "Meta — Labeling AI-Generated Images on Facebook, Instagram and Threads",
"url": "https://about.fb.com/news/2024/02/labeling-ai-generated-images-on-facebook-instagram-and-threads/"
}
]
},
"c2pa": {
"verdict": "partial",
"evidence": "documented",
"note": "Meta documents using C2PA signals to identify and label AI content. It does not document preservation of the manifest in a downloadable Instagram derivative.",
"sources": [
{
"title": "Meta — Labeling AI-Generated Images on Facebook, Instagram and Threads",
"url": "https://about.fb.com/news/2024/02/labeling-ai-generated-images-on-facebook-instagram-and-threads/"
},
{
"title": "Meta — How Meta Is Preparing for the 2026 US Midterm Elections",
"url": "https://about.fb.com/news/2026/02/meta-prepares-for-2026-us-midterms/"
}
]
},
"visible": {
"verdict": "keeps",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "Expected to remain in displayed pixels, subject to cropping and re-encoding. Not upload/download tested in this review.",
"sources": []
}
},
"Facebook": {
"exif": {
"verdict": "unknown",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "Meta documents collecting media metadata, but no current source found defines EXIF fields in Facebook's public/downloadable derivative.",
"sources": []
},
"iptc_xmp": {
"verdict": "partial",
"evidence": "documented",
"note": "Meta documents reading IPTC AI-generation signals for labels. That does not establish that creator, copyright, or rights fields survive in a downloadable derivative.",
"sources": [
{
"title": "Meta — Labeling AI-Generated Images on Facebook, Instagram and Threads",
"url": "https://about.fb.com/news/2024/02/labeling-ai-generated-images-on-facebook-instagram-and-threads/"
}
]
},
"c2pa": {
"verdict": "partial",
"evidence": "documented",
"note": "Meta documents using C2PA signals to identify and label AI content. It does not document preservation of the manifest in a downloadable Facebook derivative.",
"sources": [
{
"title": "Meta — Labeling AI-Generated Images on Facebook, Instagram and Threads",
"url": "https://about.fb.com/news/2024/02/labeling-ai-generated-images-on-facebook-instagram-and-threads/"
},
{
"title": "Meta — How Meta Is Preparing for the 2026 US Midterm Elections",
"url": "https://about.fb.com/news/2026/02/meta-prepares-for-2026-us-midterms/"
}
]
},
"visible": {
"verdict": "keeps",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "Expected to remain in displayed pixels, subject to cropping and re-encoding. Not upload/download tested in this review.",
"sources": []
}
},
"X / Twitter": {
"exif": {
"verdict": "strips",
"evidence": "documented",
"note": "X says it reads EXIF during upload, retains it temporarily for processing, and does not make it available to people viewing the posted photo.",
"sources": [
{
"title": "X Help — How to post photos or GIFs",
"url": "https://help.x.com/en/using-x/posting-gifs-and-pictures"
}
]
},
"iptc_xmp": {
"verdict": "unknown",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "X's current help covers EXIF but not IPTC/XMP credit fields in the served derivative. The previous STRIPS claim was not live-tested.",
"sources": []
},
"c2pa": {
"verdict": "unknown",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "No current X source or live round trip was found for inbound C2PA manifests.",
"sources": []
},
"visible": {
"verdict": "keeps",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "Expected to remain in displayed pixels, subject to automatic scaling, cropping, and re-encoding. Not upload/download tested in this review.",
"sources": []
}
},
"Reddit": {
"exif": {
"verdict": "partial",
"evidence": "documented",
"note": "Reddit says it strips location and personal-information metadata from shared images. It does not say that every EXIF field is removed.",
"sources": [
{
"title": "Reddit — Privacy by design",
"url": "https://redditinc.com/privacy"
}
]
},
"iptc_xmp": {
"verdict": "unknown",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "Reddit's privacy statement is not field-specific enough to prove what happens to IPTC and XMP rights metadata.",
"sources": []
},
"c2pa": {
"verdict": "unknown",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "No current Reddit source or live round trip was found for C2PA preservation.",
"sources": []
},
"visible": {
"verdict": "keeps",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "Expected to remain in displayed pixels, subject to cropping and re-encoding. Not upload/download tested in this review.",
"sources": []
}
},
"Printables": {
"exif": {
"verdict": "unknown",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "Printables does not document this and no account-based round trip was authorized.",
"sources": []
},
"iptc_xmp": {
"verdict": "unknown",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "Printables does not document this and no account-based round trip was authorized.",
"sources": []
},
"c2pa": {
"verdict": "unknown",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "Printables does not document inbound C2PA handling and no live round trip was run.",
"sources": []
},
"visible": {
"verdict": "keeps",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "Expected to remain in displayed pixels, subject to the site's crop and image pipeline. Not upload/download tested in this review.",
"sources": []
}
},
"Google Images": {
"exif": {
"verdict": "unknown",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "Google's supported image-metadata documentation enumerates IPTC rights/source fields, not general camera/GPS EXIF. Google Images crawls a source URL rather than returning an upload derivative.",
"sources": [
{
"title": "Google Search Central — Image metadata in Google Images",
"url": "https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/image-license-metadata"
}
]
},
"iptc_xmp": {
"verdict": "reads",
"evidence": "documented",
"note": "Google documents extracting specific IPTC creator, credit, copyright, licence, licensor, and digital-source fields from images it crawls. It does not promise to display every field or every eligible result.",
"sources": [
{
"title": "Google Search Central — Image metadata in Google Images",
"url": "https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/image-license-metadata"
},
{
"title": "Google Search Help — Find Google Image details",
"url": "https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/9789430"
}
]
},
"c2pa": {
"verdict": "partial",
"evidence": "documented",
"note": "Google documents using C2PA as one source for how an image was made or edited in image details. Availability and display are conditional; this is not upload survival.",
"sources": [
{
"title": "Google Search Help — Find Google Image details",
"url": "https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/9789430"
}
]
},
"visible": {
"verdict": "keeps",
"evidence": "inference",
"note": "Google indexes the source image's pixels, but thumbnails and previews can crop or rescale a small edge stamp. This is not an upload/download path.",
"sources": []
}
}
}
}