Instagram: someone is blackmailing you with intimate images or messages
Here is the official process on Instagram, checked on 15 October 2026. Follow the steps in order.
Before you start
- Don’t pay and don’t send anything else: paying rarely stops blackmail, and often makes it worse.
- Stop the conversation, but delete nothing: take screenshots (profile, messages, numbers, demands for money).
- Block the person and report their account to the platform.
- Tell the police and talk to someone you trust. Helplines for your country are on our Urgent help page.
- If images exist: StopNCII.org (if you are an adult) or Take It Down (images from before you turned 18) can block them from being posted on major platforms.
The steps
- Report the profile and messages to Instagram.
- Block the person.
- Report it to the police.
- Talk to someone you trust: it’s not your fault.
- Get help from a specialist support organization.
You may need to log in to your account. Checked on 15 October 2026.
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
Same situation, other platforms
- Facebook Someone is threatening to share your private photos or messages
- WhatsApp Blackmail or threats on WhatsApp: block and report
- TikTok Sextortion: threats to share intimate images
- X (Twitter) Threat to post your intimate images
- YouTube Threats or blackmail on YouTube
- Snapchat Sextortion: someone threatens to leak your nudes
- Telegram Threats or sextortion on Telegram
- LinkedIn Threats or blackmail: harassment or safety concern form
- Reddit Someone threatens to post your intimate images
- StopNCII.org Someone threatens to share your intimate images: block them in advance
- Take It Down (NCMEC) A minor (or former minor) threatened with their intimate photos
← Blackmailed with your pictures? What to do right now
This information helps you use your rights. It doesn’t replace advice from a lawyer.