In this session, participants will apply practical skills to identify and track individuals across websites and online platforms. By starting with a small amount of information, we will cover how to follow an investigative pathway to correlate and link this to social media profiles, websites, emails, and images in order to create a complete understanding of the digital presence of a 'person of interest'. Participants will also learn how to operate securely and anonymously, focusing on good tradecraft. This includes core operational security principles: protecting your identity, masking your digital trail, and avoiding accidental exposure during investigations. This session provides actionable techniques to enhance your online research capability whilst minimising risk to yourself and your organisation. Prerequisites: Access to a browser (e.g., Chrome) and a basic familiarity with social media platforms.

In this session, participants will explore advanced techniques for conducting cross-platform disinformation investigations across a range of social media sites. We will work with large datasets to answer questions about the intent and reach of strategic disinformation campaigns. Participants will learn how to identify and gather evidence of inauthentic content and disinformation from key platforms, including Facebook, X, Telegram and forums. Using exported Telegram datasets, we will examine approaches for bulk data analysis (including both content and temporal analysis) and discuss some of the key challenges involved in identifying and analysing high-volume, coordinated disinformation campaigns.