How to remove photos and videos from Google

Which form is yours

It depends on what was posted and who holds the rights. If two forms fit, you can file both.

• Copyright

  Your content posted without permission. The DMCA form, about 6 hours on average.

• Intimate images

  Real or fake, shared without consent. The form for personal sexual content.

• Personal info

  Address, phone, email or documents next to the leak. Results about you or the removal form.

For any form, list links to specific pages, not to the whole site.

Copyright: the DMCA form

If you hold the rights, file a copyright removal request. This is the usual route for content you sold.

• Show where the original is: a link to your profile or post.
• List the links to the copies one by one.
• The rights holder or their representative can file.

This form covers Search only. YouTube and other Google services have their own copyright forms.

Google processes these requests in about 6 hours on average. It sends a copy to the public Lumen database, which can show the sender’s name but not contact details. The site owner is notified and can file a counter-notice.

Personal intimate images

If intimate images of you were shared without your consent, use the form for personal sexual content. You don’t need to hold the copyright.

Google considers real images if you didn’t consent to the imagery or the act, or if you did but the content isn’t commercialized anywhere. If you sell this content, the form may not fit, and Google points to the copyright form instead.

• You or your representative can start a request.
• Google reviews only the links you list.
• The form asks for screenshots. You can crop them so only your face shows. If an image shows anyone under 18, don’t take screenshots.
• Google also tries to remove duplicates. You can opt out in the form.

Removal can be full or partial. With partial removal, the page won’t appear for searches that include your name or username, but may appear for others. Google may decline if it considers the material newsworthy.

Deepfakes

Fake intimate images of you go through the same form. Three things must be true: you can be identified, the image is fake and shows you unclothed or in a sexual situation, and it was shared without your consent. This includes images where your face was put on someone else’s body.

In Google Images, you can start a request from the image viewer and track it in Results about you. If you are 18 or older, you can also hash a fake image with StopNCII.

Personal info and Results about you

If your address, phone number, email or documents were posted next to the leak, ask Google to remove those pages from Search. Results about you covers contact details, and a separate form covers the rest.

• Address, phone and email: Results about you finds pages that show them and can alert you to new ones.
• ID numbers, bank details, images of your signature or ID, usernames and passwords: the personal info removal form.
• Doxxing, your details posted with threats or calls to harass you: the same form.
• In the EU and the UK, you can also ask Google to delist results under data protection law.

Some Results about you features are only for adults and only in certain countries.

Removed from Search is not removed from the site

Google only removes the link from its results. The page stays on the site: anyone with the link can open it, and other search engines may still show it.

So report to the site and its host at the same time. If the site uses Cloudflare, a report through Cloudflare reaches the operator and the host.

Once the page is gone from the site but still shows in Google, ask Google to refresh the outdated result. The same form works if the page is still there but the image is gone.

Yandex and Bing

Yandex and Bing have their own rules. File with each search engine separately.

• Yandex says it can’t remove content from other people’s websites and points you to their administrators. If a page is gone but still shows in Yandex, use Yandex’s form.
• Bing: copyright requests go through Microsoft’s infringement form. Intimate images shared without consent go through Report a Concern.
• Microsoft is a StopNCII partner, including for Bing.