ImageWhisperer is built and operated by Henk van Ess, an investigator, tool builder and trainer with two decades in online research and open-source intelligence (OSINT). He wrote the people-research chapter of the Verification Handbook for Investigative Reporting, a standard reference for newsroom verification, and trains journalists and investigators worldwide through the Global Investigative Journalism Network, the Centre for Investigative Journalism and his own platform, Digital Digging.
Every detection rule in this tool comes from that practice: cases where a fake image reached an editor's desk and a generic detector failed to catch it. The about page tells that story in full.
ImageWhisperer is an independent, bootstrapped product — no venture capital, no data resale, built in public. The detection pipeline, accuracy benchmarks and version history are documented openly on this site.