If intimate images of you were shared without consent

The first 24 hours

1. 1

   Do not pay and do not negotiate

   Extortion does not end with a payment; it escalates. Stop replying, block after you have saved the evidence, and tell someone you trust.

2. 2

   Save the evidence without forwarding the images

   Screenshots that show the URL, the username, the date and the message. Do not download, send or re-post the images themselves; for images of anyone under 18 that is itself unlawful.

3. 3

   Fingerprint the images

   Use StopNCII (18 or over when the image was taken) or Take It Down (under 18). The tools hash the image on your device; the hash is what platforms use to catch uploads and remove copies.

4. 4

   Report on each platform

   Every major platform has a report option specifically for intimate images shared without consent. Use that option, not a generic report; it is routed to a faster queue. The fake-profile guide lists where each form lives.

5. 5

   Report to the police or the cybercrime portal

   Sharing intimate images without consent is an offence in the UK, in India and in most US states, and a federal takedown duty now applies to US platforms. A report number also helps with hosts that ask for one.

6. 6

   Ask Google to remove the results

   Google's removal form for personal sexual content covers real images, fake or AI images that depict you, and pages that falsely tie your name to sexual content. It removes results, not the page itself.

7. 7

   Find remaining public copies

   Once hashing and reports are in motion, a face search and an image search find copies on public pages that are not part of the hashing programmes, so you can report those hosts too.

8. 8

   Get support

   The help lines above exist for the part that is not technical. Use them.

How the hashing tools work

StopNCII and Take It Down do not ask you to send the images anywhere. You select the images on your own device, the tool turns each one into a hash, a fingerprint that cannot be turned back into the image, and only the hash is shared with the participating platforms. Those platforms check uploads against the list and remove or block matches. StopNCII is for people who were 18 or over when the image was taken and are the person in the image. Take It Down is for images taken before the age of 18, and it can also pass a report to NCMEC's CyberTipline. Neither tool reaches sites that do not participate, which is where the next section comes in.

Where a face search fits

Hashing catches copies of the files you fingerprinted, on the platforms that take part. Copies also travel to forums, blogs and repost sites that take part in nothing, and they get cropped, resized and re-encoded along the way, which breaks a file match. A face search works differently: it looks for the face, so it can find a cropped or re-encoded copy on any public page, and each result comes with the URL you need for a report. Run it with a normal, clothed photo of yourself; you never need to upload the intimate image to find it, because the face is the same.

Use the result list as a reporting list. For each page: the host's abuse contact, the platform's intimate-image report if it is a platform, and Google's removal form so the page stops appearing in search while the host acts. The takedown guide covers host contacts and DMCA notices, which apply when you took the photo yourself.

Your legal position, briefly

This is general information, not legal advice. In the United States the TAKE IT DOWN Act, signed in May 2025, makes publishing intimate images without consent, including AI-generated forgeries, a federal offence, and from 19 May 2026 requires covered platforms to remove such content within 48 hours of a valid request, with the FTC enforcing. In the United Kingdom, sharing or threatening to share intimate images without consent is a criminal offence, and the Revenge Porn Helpline can walk you through reporting. In India, publishing private images without consent is an offence under the Information Technology Act, and the national cybercrime portal takes the complaint. The legal guide has more on each region.

Looking after yourself

The person who shared the images is the one who did something wrong. Many people in this situation blame themselves for having taken the photos; the law, the platforms and the help lines do not see it that way, and neither do we. Removal work is slow and repetitive, so pace it, keep a simple log of every report and reply, and let a trusted person or one of the help lines carry part of it. If you are under 18, tell an adult you trust and use Take It Down; you will not be in trouble for the images.