Preserve
Posts get deleted, profiles go private, handles change. Preserve what matters as you find it.
Archived copies
Check whether the Wayback Machine has the profile, and since when:
ot run osintverse-community/waybackpy --url "https://www.instagram.com/instagram/" --mode oldest
ot run osintverse-community/waybackpy --url "https://www.instagram.com/instagram/" --mode newestMany profile pages are archived, sometimes years before a rename or a deletion. Archive important pages yourself with the Wayback Machine's Save Page Now or archive.today before you cite them.
Your own record
- Save each tool's output with
-o(JSON keeps everything):ot run … --format json -o profile-2026-10-20.json. - Take full-page screenshots with the date and URL visible for anything you will show to others.
- Keep a short log: what you collected, when, with which tool and version (
ot listshows installed versions).
Wrap-up
Report the accounts, what each showed on which date, and the evidence for attributing them. Leave out third parties and anything outside your scope.