RECAP for newcomers and to help summarise this thread so far:
(1) Q has mentioned the KEY nature of the GRAPHICS numerous times, as well as suggesting we have more than we know by way of crumbs.
(2) We have proof of a hidden image layer to the meme recently posted - >>232879 >>227313
(3) With the American flag (which Q has posted twice), photoshop manipulation (via exposure settings or playing with the threshold values) reveals hot pixels that form a recurring dot pattern - >>213696
(4) These 'hot pixels' could either be (a) a random artefact based on how the original image was created; or (b) deliberately placed there as a code to be found by anons.
(5) The hexadecimal strings that make up the image filenames could in themselves contain the code - existing examples of strings identified include "key9", "hour", "sRGB" (an Adobe graphics format), IDAT (part of the PNG file specification), amongst others.
(6) on the visual graphic side anons have begun looking at various codes and ciphers to see if anything fits, including braille, morse code, musical notation, and baudot code.
(7) This is about crowdsourcing - the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. If the KEY is in the graphical elements (including the filenames) then we hope to find it by combining our brainpower!
And on that note - I'm whacked and need a break, as the rest of my life falls down around my earsโฆ