DMCA: requesting removal of a photo or video you created
The DMCA is a US copyright law. If a photo or video you created (for example a selfie) is posted without your permission on a service subject to US law, you can send a “DMCA notice” asking for it to be removed.
Important : If the person targeted sends a counter-notice, the content can come back online within 10 to 14 business days unless you take legal action in that time (in practice, in the United States). Prepare your other routes (privacy, intimate image, GDPR, DSA) in parallel.
Who it is for
The person who holds the copyright in the work – usually whoever took the photo or shot the video – or someone authorised to act for them. Most useful with platforms or hosts subject to US law.
Time frame
The law requires “expeditious” removal, with no fixed deadline. If a counter-notice is filed, the content can be restored 10 to 14 business days later.
Cost
The notice is free. A lawsuit in the United States, however, would be costly.
Legal basis
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Title 17 of the US Code, section 512 (17 U.S.C. § 512): § 512(c)(3) (content of the notice), § 512(g) (counter-notice and restoration within 10 to 14 business days), § 512(f) (liability for knowing misrepresentation). Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 17 March 2016: fair use must be considered first.
The steps
- Check that you are the author: if someone else took the photo, they hold the copyright. In that case, use other routes (privacy, GDPR, intimate image).
- Find the host’s or platform’s designated “DMCA agent”: the service’s copyright form, or the US Copyright Office’s official directory. Avoid general support addresses.
- Write the notice (in English for a US service) with the 6 elements the law requires: your signature; the work concerned; the URL of the content to remove; your contact details; a good-faith statement that the use is not authorised; and a statement that the information is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorised to act.
- Before sending, ask yourself whether the use could be lawful (short quotation, criticism, parody…): a US federal appeals court has ruled that this “fair use” must be considered before sending a notice.
- Send the notice and keep a dated copy. To keep its legal protection, the host must remove the content “expeditiously” (no fixed deadline).
- File your other reports in parallel (privacy, intimate image, DSA): the DMCA does not replace them.
What to prepare
- The URL of each piece of content to remove
- Something that identifies your work: the original photo or video, or a link to where you first posted it
- Your contact details: address, phone number and email
- Your signature, handwritten or electronic
- The two required statements (good faith; accuracy and authority to act under penalty of perjury)
Official links
- US Copyright Office – official DMCA agent directory
- Google – copyright removal request for Search results
The limits you should know
- It only works if you hold the copyright (usually whoever took the photo), not if you are only the person photographed.
- The person who posted it can reply with a counter-notice: the content then comes back online after 10 to 14 business days, unless you take legal action to stop it (in practice, in the United States).
- Your name and email may be passed on to the person who posted the content (YouTube, for example, says so); a representative such as a lawyer can send the notice for you.
- Knowingly stating something false in a notice can make you liable for the other side’s damages and legal fees.
- The DMCA is not for removing criticism or reviews: that would be an abuse.
- An incomplete notice may not be taken into account.
If it doesn’t work
An official form can go unanswered or be wrongly refused. That’s not the end: there are other doors, heavier but effective — the company hosting the site, the company managing its domain name, the laws of your country, the data protection authority. That’s exactly what we do for you, with your agreement.
- Reporting to the platform
- A written request to the site owner
- The domain name registrar
- The hosting company
- Search engines
- The authority or the courts
This information helps you use your rights. It doesn’t replace advice from a lawyer.