English
EspañolHow can I find websites where my image is posted online?
You might know or suspect that the abuser has posted an intimate image of you online, yet you don’t know where. Or you may know of one website where the image was posted, but it is also possible that the abuser posted it in other places that you do not know about. To try to get an image taken down, it will be important to figure out all of the websites where the abuser may have posted the image. One way to search for a specific image posted online is to use a reverse image search on search engines, such as:
- Google;
- Bing;
- TinEyes;
- Yandex; and
- KarmaDecay - for Reddit.
If you are not sure how to do a reverse image search, try searching “[Search engine name] image search.” Here are some additional tips:
If you are on a computer:
- Find the website where your image appears, right-click on the image and select Copy image URL.
- On images.google.com or any image results page, click the camera icon in the search bar. You can use a different search engine, such as Bing, if you prefer. Most search engines allow this.
- Paste the URL into the search box.
If you are on a phone, you can use the Chrome app on an Android phone, iPhone, or iPad:
- Using the Chrome app, find the website where your image appears.
- Press and hold the image. In the box that appears, touch Search Google for this image. You might need to touch the image once to enlarge it on certain devices.
- If you prefer, you can use a different browser app. In that case you may have to use the same process as if you were on a computer.
It will be important to document all of the places where the image appears in case this is needed for reporting it to the police or the courts. You can take a screenshot of the results and then go to each website and take a screenshot of each one.
This whole process can be stressful and upsetting, especially if you find your image in multiple places. You may want to ask a trusted friend to help you through it and even seek professional emotional support from an advocate or therapist.
How can I get my images removed if the abuser posted them online?
Once you have identified all of the places where the intimate image of you has been posted, you will want to look for each website’s take-down policy. Most take-down policies can be found in the “terms of service” language on the website. There may even be specific instructions for you to follow regarding how to make a request to have your image removed from the website. If there aren’t any instructions or a take-down policy, you can read NNEDV’s Safety Net Project’s guide called Removing Sensitive Content from the Internet.
Note: As of 2023, Google will also remove sexual images that were shared without consent from its search results. This does not remove them from the websites, however. It makes it so that a Google search cannot find them. You can find Google’s request form here.
In addition, if you took the image yourself –in other words, if you were the photographer– there might be a way to use copyright law to get it removed. Generally, the person who takes a photo automatically owns its copyright. However, even if the abuser took the photo or video and the copyright belongs to him/her, the person who is featured in the photo or video may also be able to apply for the copyright to that image. If someone owns the copyright to an image and another person posts the image publicly without the copyright owner’s consent, it’s possible to file what is called a “takedown notice” based on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. The notice would be sent to the relevant websites and search engines with the request to remove the image. You can read more about this strategy in a 2016 New Yorker magazine article. However, this strategy would be very difficult to do on one’s own without the help of a lawyer. You may want to look for an attorney on our Finding a Lawyer page. You can also get help by contacting the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative.
How can I prevent the abuser from posting my images on Facebook, Instagram, and other apps?
The StopNCII tool lets you create a “hash” of an image. A hash is a “digital fingerprint” created with a mathematical process. The tool lets you share the hashes of your images with many different app companies. This way you do not have to share the actual images. The app companies and StopNCII will look for posts of images with the same hashes so they can help detect and remove the images from being shared online.
StopNCII is for people who are 18 or older in the images. If you are under 18, you can use the similar TakeItDown tool.
The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI) may provide you with other help too.
If the abuser already posted the image, go to How can I get my images removed if the abuser posted them online? for information on how to remove the images.
