First find the oldest copy of the image, then follow the quotes and reposts back to the account that carried it.

Reverse image search tells you where a picture is. It doesn't tell you how a post spread. You need both halves, and the tools for each are free.

You have	Free tool	What it shows, and the catch
An image	Google About this image	When Google may have first seen a similar version, and pages that used it earlier. Some regions only.
An image	TinEye	Copies sorted by Oldest. The date is when TinEye found it, not when it was posted.
An image	Bing Visual Search, Yandex Images	Pages that include the image. Each engine finds different copies.
A video	InVID-WeVerify	Pulls keyframes and reverse-searches them on 6 engines. Chrome, Edge, Opera.
A post	The post itself	Quotes and reposts. On X they're under View post engagements; likes are hidden.
A link	Wayback Machine	Every saved copy by date. First capture is when it was saved, not published.

Green = where to start: two image searches, then the post's own quotes and reposts.

Step by step: from the image to the account that spread it

Work backwards from what you have, and write down each date as you go.

Find the oldest copy of the image
- Google: open the image in Google Lens or image search, then About this image. Note "first seen" and the earliest pages.
- TinEye: upload it, sort by Oldest. Free for personal use, up to 100 searches a day.
- Try Bing and Yandex too. Each index has copies the others don't.
Find the post that made it travel
- The oldest copy is often a quiet post. Look for the first big account that posted or quoted it.
- On X: open the post, then the menu, then View post engagements for quotes and reposts.
- On Bluesky: every quote of a post is listed on the post.
Find the hour it jumped
- Search the image's caption or a phrase from the post with dates: "exact phrase" since:2026-10-01 until:2026-10-03, then Latest.
- A few posts an hour, then hundreds, is the jump. The account posting just before it usually carried it.
Check other sites
- Search the link or the caption in quotes on Google with site:reddit.com. Reddit threads and forums often come first.
- Put any link into the Wayback Machine to see when it was first saved.
Save what you find
- Screenshot each step with the link and date showing. Posts get deleted. How to save it properly.

Aug 14, 2024

CrowdTangle, the free tool reporters used to see how posts spread on Facebook and Instagram, shut down. Its replacement, Meta Content Library, is only open to academic and nonprofit researchers.

Why "the oldest copy" isn't always the original

Every date these tools show is when a crawler found the copy, not when a person posted it.

TinEye says it directly: its sort date "isn't the date that it first appeared", because nobody has that date.
It may have started somewhere private: a group chat, a Discord or a private account. No tool can see inside them.
Deleted posts drop out of every index, unless an archive saved them.
So say "the earliest copy I could find", not "the first post". It's the honest version and it holds up.

Tools for photos of you

If the image is a photo of you or one you own, two more tools help.

Pixsy watches where your photos are used. Free for up to 500 images; Personal is $19 a month with 20 takedowns. It keeps 50% of any money it recovers.
PimEyes searches by face. Free searches show blurred results, 10 a day; paid plans unblur them. It keeps uploads for up to 48 hours.

Doing it with one tool

By hand works, but following hundreds of reposts across sites can take an evening.

Pressfront makes Trace, which shows who is talking about you online and where it started, and Get Found, which helps online businesses show up on Google and in AI answers.

Paste a name, an @username or a phrase. Trace shows the earliest post it could find, the accounts carrying it, and posts on other sites, each linked.
X and Bluesky first, plus Reddit, forums, archives and the open web. Public posts only, and it lists what it couldn't see.
It doesn't reverse-search images. For a picture, start with the tools above.

Trace where it spread, freeOne free trace, looking back 7 days. No account, no card.

Questions

Can I find who first posted an image?

You can find the oldest copy the search engines know about. Google's About this image and TinEye's Oldest sort show when their crawlers first saw it, which is not always when it was first posted. Call it the earliest copy you could find.

How do I see who shared a post on X?

Open the post and use View post engagements to see quotes and reposts. Likes are not public: since June 12, 2024 only the person who liked a post can see that they did.

Is there a free tool that shows how a post spread on Facebook or Instagram?

Not for the public anymore. CrowdTangle shut down on August 14, 2024. Its replacement, Meta Content Library, is only open to researchers at academic and nonprofit institutions.

How do I track where my own photos are used?

Pixsy's free plan monitors up to 500 of your images. Its Personal plan is $19 a month with 20 takedowns, and it keeps 50% of any money it recovers for you.

Sources (each tool's own page, checked 2026-10-27)

Google About this image: support.google.com
TinEye limits and sort dates: limits, sorting
Bing Visual Search: support.microsoft.com; Yandex Images: browser.yandex.com
InVID-WeVerify plugin: weverify.eu
CrowdTangle shutdown and Meta Content Library: transparency.meta.com, transparency.meta.com
X likes private since June 12, 2024: Engadget
Bluesky quotes: bsky.social
Wayback Machine: help.archive.org
Pixsy: pixsy.com; PimEyes: pimeyes.com

All guides · Pressfront Trace

Pressfront LLC · Tampa, FL · pressfront.co

First find the oldest copy of the image, then follow the quotes and reposts back to the account that carried it.

Step by step: from the image to the account that spread it

Find the oldest copy of the image

Find the post that made it travel

Find the hour it jumped

Check other sites

Save what you find

Why "the oldest copy" isn't always the original

Tools for photos of you

Doing it with one tool

Questions