The First Hour After Intimate Images Leak: Exactly What to Do

Someone just told you, or you just found it yourself: an intimate image of you, real or AI-made, is online. Here is exactly what to do in the first hour, in order. You don't need to read anything else first.

0. Two things before anything

It is not your fault, and you are not alone. Whoever shared or made that image did the wrong thing, not you. There are free tools and real humans for every step below.

1. If someone is demanding money, do not pay

Payment doesn't make sextortion stop; it marks you as someone who pays. Don't send more images and don't argue. Stop replying, but don't delete the conversation, because you'll want it in the next step. If the threat is the problem and nothing has been posted yet, go to someone is threatening to leak my photos after step 2.

2. Preserve evidence before you report anything (10 minutes)

Once content is removed or an account blocks you, evidence is hard to recover. Save, somewhere private:

• Screenshots of the post and profile, including the username and the URL
• The exact links, and the date you found them
• Any messages, threats, or payment demands

If a friend can do this with you, let them. You don't have to look at it more than once.

3. File the removal, at the right door (20 minutes)

Every platform has a different reporting route, and using the right one matters more than people think.

• The platform's own intimate-image form, not the generic report button, is usually the fastest lane. In the United States, the TAKE IT DOWN Act requires covered platforms to remove reported non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours. Other countries run their own clocks; India's IT Rules, for example, set a 2-hour removal requirement for morphed or intimate imagery once a user complains.
• StopNCII.org (adults): creates a fingerprint of the image on your device, the image itself never uploads, and participating platforms block re-uploads.
• Under 18, or the image is from when you were? Use NCMEC's Take It Down, the dedicated youth channel, and let it lead before anything else on this list.

Finding each platform's right door is the maze part. LinksGone exists for exactly that: it routes your links to the correct removal channel across 1,000+ platform and national reporting doors, helps you file in your own name, and tracks whether the content actually came down. It's free, because being protected shouldn't cost anything. For the full sexual-content walkthrough, see how to remove fake nudes and deepfake porn.

4. Lock your accounts (15 minutes)

Change the passwords on your main email and social accounts, turn on two-factor authentication, and sign out other sessions. If the images came from a hacked account or device, this closes the pipeline.

5. Get a human on your side

A hotline advocate has walked hundreds of people through this exact hour. In the US, RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline (800-656-4673, or their online chat) is there 24/7; most countries have an equivalent. Telling one trusted friend also makes the next week easier.

Three things not to do

• Don't pay a "guaranteed removal" service hundreds of dollars for filings you can do free in an afternoon.
• Don't publicly threaten the poster with lawsuits; it tips them off before the removals land.
• Don't delete your evidence in the understandable urge to make it all disappear.

The first hour is three moves: preserve, file at the right door, lock down. Everything after that, monitoring, escalation, the law, can wait until tomorrow. Tonight, those three are enough.