AI FORENSICS LIMITED

What AI FORENSICS LIMITED does

AI Forensics Limited is a European non-profit research organization founded in 2021 by Claudio Agosti, Marc Faddoul, and Salvatore Romano, building on seven years of prior platform-accountability work conducted as the Tracking Exposed project since 2016. The organization develops and operates an independent evidence-collection infrastructure that uses sock-puppeting, scraping, and user data donation to gather behavioral data on algorithms without relying on official platform APIs. This infrastructure has supported dozens of research projects and audits across major platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Meta, X, Snapchat, Amazon, Telegram, and Microsoft Copilot, with investigations producing datasets at scale — for example, 2.8 million messages across 16 Telegram channels, 46,000+ fraudulent Meta health advertisements reaching 292M+ impressions, and 354 Agentic AI Accounts generating 4.5 billion views across 20 languages.

The organization's core products are (1) free-software algorithmic auditing tools released to lower technical barriers for the research community, (2) data-donation and mobile-auditing infrastructure for automated evidence collection at scale, and (3) published technical investigations and reports. Supporting research artifacts include the Agentic AI Accounts Codebook, "The Human Guide to Detecting AI Imagery," the YouTube Safety Panel Monitor Dashboard, and the TikTok API Accessibility Playground. A transdisciplinary team spanning computer science, law, ethics, sociology, psychology, and communications interprets the collected data, with AI/ML techniques (NLP, computer vision, anomaly detection) used as core investigative instruments to classify content, detect synthetic media, and identify algorithmic harms across multiple languages and modalities.

AI Forensics has no commercial revenue model; the organization is funded by philanthropic grants from foundations including Open Society Foundations, Luminate, Mozilla Foundation, SIDN, Civitates, EAISF, GSF, and Limelight. Its beneficiaries are journalists (via a network generating coverage in The Guardian, Le Monde, Wired, Washington Post, BBC, FT, Politico, Der Spiegel, and others), policymakers and regulators (European Commission, ARCOM, Ofcom), researchers, and civil-society partners (Amnesty International, AlgorithmWatch, Nieuwsuur, Fundación Maldita.es, CheckFirst, Hybrid Election Integrity Observatory). AI Forensics' investigations have triggered formal regulatory action, including Ofcom's investigation into Telegram under the Online Safety Act and European Commission inquiry proceedings on Meta political advertising.

Name

AI FORENSICS LIMITED

Legal name

AI FORENSICS

Website

https://aiforensics.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

AI Forensics is a European non-profit that conducts independent adversarial audits of algorithmic and AI systems, releasing free auditing tools and publishing investigations used by journalists, regulators, and civil-society partners to hold major technology platforms accountable.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Algorithmic Auditing and Platform Accountability Research

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

Audit, Explainability & Accountability Tooling (traceability, reporting) (HDAAAKAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Regulatory Readiness & Audit Automation (e.g., EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001) (HDAAAMAE), AI Privacy Engineering & Data Governance (PII, consent, retention) (HDAAAKAB)

Keywords

• Algorithmic auditing
• Platform accountability research
• Data donation infrastructure
• Generative AI investigations
• Adversarial data collection

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Foundation Grants and Donations: AI Forensics operates as a European non-profit organization funded through grants and donations from foundations and institutional funders. Their funding supports the development of auditing tools, conducting investigations, and policy advocacy work.
2. Partnership Collaborations: Collaborative partnerships with civil society organizations, academic institutions, and other NGOs where AI Forensics provides technical expertise in exchange for collaborative research outputs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

AI Forensics develops and operates adversarial algorithmic-auditing infrastructure and conducts independent technical investigations into opaque recommendation, advertising, and generative-AI systems on major platforms. Its core deliverables are free/open-source auditing tools (sock-puppeting, scraping, data-donation methodologies developed since 2016), high-profile published investigations, and interactive monitoring dashboards.

Product overview

AI Forensics is a European non-profit research organization (not a commercial product company) that investigates influential and opaque algorithms. Their core offerings consist of free-software algorithmic auditing tools for the research community, data donation infrastructure for automated evidence collection at scale, and published technical investigations/reports. Supporting research tools include the Agentic AI Accounts Codebook for classifying automated content producers, The Human Guide to Detecting AI Imagery for synthetic media verification, and various monitoring dashboards (YouTube Safety Panel Monitor, TikTok API Accessibility Playground). Their methodology combines sock-puppeting, scraping, and user data donation with transdisciplinary analysis to hold major technology platforms accountable.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Algorithmic Auditing Tools Free, open-source software tools that allow researchers to mimic user behaviors and collect behavioral data on opaque algorithms using sock-puppeting, scraping, and data-donation methods, enabling independent audits of platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Meta, Amazon, Snapchat, and others.
• Data Donation Infrastructure Adversarial evidence-collection infrastructure supporting data-donation methodologies and automated data collection at scale across mobile and web platforms for use in research projects and platform-accountability studies.
• Research Reports and Investigations High-profile, publicly released technical investigations into algorithmic harms on major platforms—TikTok, Meta, YouTube, Amazon, Snapchat, X, Telegram, and generative AI systems—delivering actionable insights for journalists, policymakers, regulators, and litigators.
• Agentic AI Accounts (AAA) Codebook Research-tool documentation and classification system for identifying and analyzing Agentic AI Accounts—automated profiles used to perform rapid, repetitive testing of platform algorithms and to produce AI-generated content at scale.
• The Human Guide to Detecting AI Imagery Publicly available expert guide for detecting AI-generated still and moving imagery, structured as steps for assessing synthetic media including AI telltales, synthetic artifacts, digital provenance, and verification techniques.
• YouTube Safety Panel Monitor Dashboard Public interactive dashboard providing real-time monitoring of YouTube safety-panel availability across languages, displaying the presence of Topical Context Information Panels and Publisher Context panels through interactive graphs.
• TikTok API Accessibility Playground Public dashboard for daily monitoring of TikTok Research API accessibility, tracking video-retrieval success rates to verify whether data-access issues persist over time.

Quantifiable outcome

• European Commission launched formal investigation proceedings citing AI Forensics report on Meta political ads
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability8 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Mozilla FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative research partner on TikTok Lite safety investigation and broader platform accountability work. Joint publications and advocacy campaigns.
• Amnesty InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHuman rights organization collaborating on TikTok mental health investigation. Joint two-part audit examining TikTok's content recommendation system impact on youth in Kenya, Philippines, and USA.
• Algorithmic Transparency InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCivil society organization partnering on TikTok mental health investigation examining algorithmic content recommendation impacts on youth.
• AlgorithmWatchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch organization collaborating on Microsoft Copilot analysis during Swiss and Bavarian elections. Joint investigation testing chatbot reliability and election information quality.
• NieuwsuurcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDutch broadcaster collaborating on chatbot moderation investigation evaluating AI company safeguards across different chatbots, languages, and electoral contexts.
• CheckFirstsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerVerification organization collaborating on Amazon risky recommendations investigation examining search results on Belgian and French bookstores.
• Fundación Maldita.escoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpanish fact-checking organization collaborating on climate disinformation investigation following Valencia floods, analyzing YouTube and TikTok content.
• Interface's TikTok Audit TeamcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic research team collaborating on TikTok 'Others Searched For' feature investigation examining political information discovery and search suggestion impacts.
• Hybrid Election Integrity ObservatorycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition of organizations monitoring election integrity across social platforms, with AI Forensics contributing analysis during Dutch parliamentary elections 2025 alongside four other organizations.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• AlgorithmWatch: Germany-based non-profit conducting algorithmic auditing and accountability research; confirmed co-investigation partner with AI Forensics on Microsoft Copilot election reliability. Same mission, similar methodology, and overlapping civil-society positioning.
• Access Now: Global digital rights non-profit defending and extending the digital rights of users at risk. Engages in similar regulatory advocacy, strategic litigation, and policy testimony on platform accountability issues.
• EU DisinfoLab: European non-profit focused on tackling sophisticated disinformation operations, with overlapping investigations on political advertising, election integrity, and platform accountability across the EU.
• The Markup: US non-profit newsroom that investigates how technology shapes society, with a focus on algorithmic accountability and platform harms. Operates with a similar model: investigative journalism backed by technical evidence collection and data-driven audits.
• Data & Society: US-based research institute studying the social implications of data-centric technologies and automation. Publishes research on algorithmic accountability, AI ethics, and platform governance that informs the same policy debates AI Forensics targets.
• Citizen Lab: University of Toronto interdisciplinary research lab investigating digital surveillance, platform governance, and technology-enabled human rights abuses. Highly comparable methodology combining technical investigation, policy engagement, and adversarial evidence collection.

Broad incumbents

• Mozilla Foundation: Major internet health non-profit and confirmed AI Forensics funder/partner on TikTok Lite research. Broader mandate across open web, privacy, and AI trustworthiness, but overlapping platform accountability focus and shared grantee ecosystem.
• Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT): Established US digital rights policy non-profit with broader advocacy scope. Regularly testifies on AI regulation and platform accountability, frequently engaging EU regulators alongside AI Forensics' target audience.

Emerging players

• Witness Media Lab: Global non-profit focused on using video and technology for human rights documentation. Thematically adjacent in the civil-society investigative ecosystem, with overlapping funder networks (OSF) and similar evidence-to-advocacy pipelines.
• Tactical Tech: Berlin-based non-profit producing public-interest investigations and tools on technology's societal impact. Smaller scale than AI Forensics but operates in adjacent investigative and capacity-building spaces with civil society partners.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/aiforensics

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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