OriginTrace

OriginTrace is a web app + browser extension (with an optional mobile companion) that maps the earliest known appearance of a meme, phrase, screenshot, or “hot take” across major platforms. Paste a link, upload an image, or drop a quote; the app runs cross-platform search and similarity matching to build a timeline of reposts, edits, and context shifts. It highlights likely origin posts, key amplification accounts, and the moment the narrative changed (e.g., cropped screenshots, missing captions, altered dates). It also provides a “context packet” you can share: original source, surrounding thread, and credibility signals (account age, engagement anomalies, deletion history when available). This is not a magic truth machine—some origins will be unknowable—but it dramatically reduces time spent chasing screenshots and misattributions for creators, journalists, and researchers.