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Social & news

Audit Your Brand Handle Across 40+ Platforms

Check whether your brand name is claimed, free, or squatted on across every major platform — in a single run.

Editorial illustration for social & news
Sep 16, 2026 · 3 min read · 508 words
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Your brand is either consistently claimable or already squatted somewhere — the audit takes one run. Thirdwatch's Username OSINT Scraper checks a username across 40+ platforms in one run and returns a per-site verdict with the profile URL — GitHub to Reddit to Keybase.

Skip the setup: Run this as a ready-to-go task on Apify — pre-loaded with the configuration from this guide.

Why audit a brand handle

Before a launch, a rebrand, or a trademark claim, you need to know where the handle is taken, where it's free, and where someone's squatting it. Checking 40 sites by hand takes an afternoon.

One run returns a row per site: exists, not_found, or error — with the profile URL for every claimed one.

The checker resolves each platform's profile URL pattern and reports the verdict with the HTTP status behind it — one run replaces an afternoon of tab-checking.

How does this compare to the alternatives?

Approach Cost model Coverage Effort
Sherlock-style CLI tools Free, your infra Wide but rate-limit-prone You run and maintain it
Manual site-by-site check Analyst hours Whatever you remember to check Hours per username
Thirdwatch Username OSINT Scraper Pay per check row 40+ platforms, one run Paste a username, run

Why this Actor

  • 40+ platforms per run — code, social, creator, and niche sites in one sweep.
  • Clean verdicts per site: exists, not_found, or error — never ambiguous.
  • profileUrl gives the canonical link when the account exists.
  • httpStatus exposes the evidence behind each verdict.
  • Bulk input — a watchlist of usernames runs in one go.

How to do it in 3 steps

Step 1: Configure the input

Set the inputs as shown below — usernames takes the targets, sites restricts the sweep to a subset — omit it to check all 40+ supported platforms.

Step 2: Run the Actor

Run it from the console, the API, or the linked saved task. One dataset row is written per site check.

Step 3: Use the output

Each row carries username, site, a status verdict (exists/not_found/error), the profileUrl when found, and the httpStatus behind the verdict.

{
  "usernames": [
    "thirdwatch"
  ]
}

Each dataset row looks like:

{
  "username": "pushpak",
  "site": "github",
  "status": "exists",
  "profileUrl": "https://github.com/pushpak",
  "httpStatus": 200
}

What to watch for

Verdicts are status-code based — a handful of sites rate-limit aggressively and may return error rows under load; retry those rather than counting them as absent. exists proves the handle is registered, not who owns it.

Related use cases

Run the Username OSINT Scraper on Apify Store — pay per result, free to try, no credit card to test.

Frequently asked questions

Which sites are covered?

40+ platforms including GitHub, GitLab, npm, PyPI, Docker Hub, Reddit, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, Pinterest, Medium, Substack, Patreon, Keybase, Kaggle, Steam, and more.

What does `error` status mean?

The check couldn't be completed — usually a rate limit or a site change. Retry those rows rather than reading them as `not_found`.

Does `exists` mean it's the same person?

No — it means the username resolves on that site. Identity correlation across sites is your downstream analysis step.

Can I check only specific sites?

Yes — `sites` takes a list of site keys to restrict the sweep.

Is this useful for brand protection?

Yes — that's the second main use: check your brand handle across all platforms for squatters and impersonators.

How does detection work?

Per-site status-code and redirect checks — the same signal a human gets loading the profile URL, applied at scale.

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