Walkthrough: social & audience

This guide shows you how to implement Instagram account and demographics verification, one of the social and audience checks available in Vouch. See what else Vouch can verify →

Example: Instagram Account & Demographics Verification

If you pay creators, audience quality is what you are actually buying. The usual evidence for it is a screenshot or a media kit, both self-reported, or an analytics subscription that estimates rather than reports. Vouch returns the account's own numbers instead, taken from Instagram directly, so you can price a partnership on verified reach and demographics rather than a claim.

In this example the user proves ownership of their Instagram account and shares their follower metrics and audience demographics, without handing you their credentials or their whole account.

See It in Action

Watch how Instagram demographics verification works. Users prove their account ownership, follower metrics, and audience demographics through authenticated access to their Instagram account:

Step 1: Select Data Source

For this Social & Audience Verification example, we'll use "Instagram - Proof of Account with Stats and Demographics" (opens in a new tab) as our data source. It lets users verify Instagram account ownership, follower metrics, and audience demographics by signing in to their own Instagram account. The numbers come from Instagram's own data, and Vouch confirms they arrived unmodified.

See all Social & Audience data sources →

Step 2: Redirect Users to Vouch

To trigger the Instagram account & demographics verification process, redirect the user to Vouch:

import { Vouch } from '@getvouch/sdk';

const vouch = new Vouch({
  customerId: "1be03be8-5014-413c-835a-feddf4020da2",   // Your unique customer ID
  apiKey: "your-api-key",                                // Your API key
});

const { verificationUrl, requestId } = await vouch.getDataSourceUrl({
  datasourceId: "687d6f6f-5346-4fb1-9552-222d4a225451", // Instagram - Proof of Account with Stats and Demographics data source
  inputs: { ig_handle: "zkseanzk" }, // inputs (optional, depending on data source), when no inputs use {}  
  redirectBackUrl: "https://your-app.example.com/verification-complete", // Return destination
  webhookUrl: "https://your-app.example.com/api/vouch-webhook", // Verification delivery endpoint (optional)
});

// Redirect the user to Vouch
window.location.href = verificationUrl;

This opens Vouch in a new tab where the user authenticates with their Instagram account to verify account ownership and audience demographics. After verification, they're redirected back to your application with the verified data.

Step 3: Receive Verification Data

When Instagram account & demographics verification is complete, Vouch sends a POST request to the webhookUrl you specified in Step 2:

{  "requestId": "...",  "outputs": {    "handle": "...",    "follower_count": "...",    "media_count": "...",    "accounts_reached": "...",    "follower_views": "...",    "nonfollower_views": "...",    "countries": "..."  },  "webProofs": [...]}

Payload structure:

• requestId: The unique ID of the verification request
• outputs: Verified account and audience data extracted from the user's Instagram account
• webProofs: Array of cryptographic verifications, each containing:
  • outputs: Data extracted from this specific verification
  • presentationJson: The cryptographic proof object used for verification
  • decodedTranscript: Human-readable HTTP request/response data

Note: The webProofs array will be absent when the data source contains sensitive data. Only the extracted outputs are retained in that case.

Webhook handling: Verify the request using your webhook secret and validate and process all outputs. Optionally, you can verify the cryptographic presentation for auditability or third-party verification. Learn how to verify web proofs (opens in a new tab)

Step 4: Test the Flow

Test the complete Instagram account & demographics verification flow using the interactive demo below. This demonstrates the exact experience your users will have:

Available Data Sources

Next Steps

Check out the Getting Started guide to learn how to integrate Vouch into your application.

To verify that this account commented on or liked a specific post, use the Social Data API.