How to Get an Intimate Image Taken Down

You can do this, and it is free

If an intimate image of you has been shared, or someone is threatening to share one, there are free tools that can get it taken down — and you do not have to pay anyone or upload the image anywhere to use them. This is more common than people think, and help exists. Take it one step at a time.

Before you delete anything, preserve it

The instinct is to make it all disappear. Resist that for a moment. Before you block the account or delete the messages, take screenshots of the username, the profile link, the threats, and any usernames or payment requests. The FBI advises victims not to delete any communication, even if it is embarrassing.Save those screenshots somewhere safe — a separate device or a trusted person's phone. They can matter for a later report. Preserving evidence is not the same as keeping the image where it can hurt you; you can preserve a record and still get the public copy removed.

The two free tools that actually work

Both of these create a digital fingerprint — a hash — of the image on your own device. Only the hash is shared with participating platforms; the image never leaves your device. Platforms then use the hash to detect and block matching uploads. Which one you use depends on how old the person in the image was when it was taken:

• If you were an adult (18 or older) when the image was taken, use StopNCII.org, run by the Revenge Porn Helpline. It is free and works with a long list of major platforms. StopNCII reports a high removal rate on participating services; treat that figure as the operator's own self-reported number, and lean on the mechanism — once a platform has the hash, matching uploads are blocked automatically.
• If the image is of someone under 18, use NCMEC's Take It Down. It uses the same on-device-hash method and is operated by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. A parent or trusted adult can do this on the young person's behalf.

Both tools match images on platforms' public, unencrypted surfaces — they are powerful, but they cannot reach every private corner of the internet. Use them alongside the platform reports below.

Report it on the platform too

Every major platform has a non-consensual-intimate-image policy and a direct reporting path — Meta (Facebook/Instagram), Snapchat, TikTok, X, and Reddit all remove this content on report. Reporting on the platform is the fastest route for content you can see right now, and it complements the hash tools.

One honest caveat about search engines

You can ask Google (and Bing) to remove explicit or intimate images from search results. That is worth doing — but it is important to understand what it does and does not do: de-indexing from search is not deletion. The image can still live on the site that is hosting it. To get it actually removed, you also have to contact the host or use the hash tools above. Doing both is the complete approach.

Free help comes first

Start with the free tools and the platforms. If you are being actively threatened or extorted, report it to the FBI at ic3.gov (1-800-CALL-FBI) — there is no fee, and they have seen this many times before. If an adult is facing an ongoing demand and wants a forensic investigator to help preserve evidence and trace the account, our sextortion response page explains how that works — but nothing on this page requires you to hire anyone. The takedown itself is free.

Related services

• Sextortion Investigation & Response