Someone posted your photo without permission: get it removed
If you took the photo yourself, selfies included, you are its author. You can ask for removal on copyright grounds, a route platforms often handle very quickly.
What to do first
- Gather proof that the photo is yours: the original with its date, an earlier post.
- Use the copyright form of the platform or site (often called a DMCA form).
- If the photo shows you, also report the privacy violation: both can be done in parallel.
By platform
- Facebook Report copyright infringement (photo, creative work)
- Instagram Report copyright infringement (photo, creative work)
- WhatsApp Report use of your photo or work (copyright)
- TikTok Report copyright infringement
- X (Twitter) File a copyright (DMCA) complaint
- YouTube Request a copyright removal
- Snapchat Report copyright infringement
- Telegram A channel or bot is using your work
- LinkedIn Report copyright infringement
What to avoid
- Only use the copyright route if you really are the author: a false statement carries legal responsibility.
- The other side can object: the content may then be restored after 10 to 14 business days unless a lawsuit is filed in the US.
Your remedies by country
- DSA: reporting illegal content to a platform (EU) In the European Union, any service that hosts content (social network, forum, sharing site…) must let you report illegal content online, examine your notice carefully and tell you its decision. It works for any content that breaks the law: intimate images, fake profiles, defamation, personal data…
- When a domain registrar ignores your abuse report: ICANN A .com, .net, .org or other generic-extension site is registered through a “registrar” (a domain name registration company). Its contract with ICANN requires it to receive abuse reports, investigate them and respond appropriately. If it does not, you can complain to ICANN.
- 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.
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
Common questions
What if someone else took the photo of me?
Then the copyright belongs to the photographer. Use privacy rights, image rights or the platform’s rules instead.
This information helps you use your rights. It doesn’t replace advice from a lawyer.