Digital Investigation Techniques


Multilingual open courses for journalists and journalism students from leading global news agency AFP, supported by the Google News Initiative



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Curso en español


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Curso em português


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Why are these courses useful for journalists?

  • Learn with examples, quizzes and tips from AFP's global digital investigations team, the world's largest team of fact checkers

  • Save time with new skills to search, verify and work safely online

  • Earn your first certificate in less than one hour

Learning Paths

Earn Your Master Certificates By Completing Learning Paths

Earn up to three Master Certificates by completing the Basics, Intermediate and Advanced courses.

Digital Investigation Techniques - Basics

Digital Investigation Techniques - Intermediate

Digital Investigation Techniques - Advanced

  • - Carry out more efficient searches online
    - Find the origin of a photo or video
    - Geolocation I: Identify clues, use online maps
    - Save evidence and find online archives

  • -Tackling election disinformation
    - Verifying climate claims
    - Take social media searches to the next level
    - Learn techniques to protect yourself online

  • - Geolocation II: Use mapping tools and find results with few clues
    - Identify reliable sources on health topics
    - Find witnesses to breaking news events and obtain, check and vet images

Check out our course!

More than 2 billion people will vote in 2024. Discover our course in three parts on tackling election disinformation for journalists and journalism students. You will learn:

- How much is spent on political ads
- How to monitor online activity
- How to identify and verify the main types of disinformation that circulate before, during and after an election
- How to create a collaborative project

Get certified by AFP, a global reference in digital investigations




Testimonials

Robin Ewing

Senior Lecturer - Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU)

"The students really benefited from the in-depth training. I saw on their resumes when they applied for internships that a lot of them did the online training. You are teaching up-to-date tools which is great, but I think the most important part is really hammering home that mindset of verification that is so essential to journalism."

Alice Antheaume

Executive Director - Sciences Po Paris Journalism School

"Tested and approved by our team, the AFP modules are perfect 'holiday homework' for students at the Sciences Po School of Journalism. In less than 1h each day, they prepare future journalists for the first semester of classes, and beyond, for the production of reliable and verified information, while boosting their agility with digital tools."

Masato Kajimoto

Professor - Journalism & Media Studies Centre (HKU)

"Each module is what we call a 'bite-sized' unit. So you can probably spend one or two hours to finish one. I can give students assignments to finish all those courses so by the time they come to my class, they already know the tools and they know all the basics. So that works really well."

Abe Wong

Bachelor’s Degree of Journalism - The University of Hong Kong

"I’ve finished all of the courses. And out of those courses, my favorite course is the geolocation. The mapping tools they are really helpful and handy. It taught me to look into all the details that I have left in our daily life. For example the car plates, the zoom in technique, or the languages, they are really useful in our reporting."

"Best Fact-Checking Project"

AFP Fact Check video playlists win WAN-IFRA's Digital Media Awards Worldwide

AFP videos with fact-checking tips won prizes at the 2023 Lovie Awards, the 2024 WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards and the 2024 INMA Global Media Awards