How to Remove a Deepfake of Yourself

If you just found a deepfake of yourself, take a breath. This is not your fault, and you are not powerless. Fake images and videos feel violating because they are, but they are also removable. Real platforms have rules against this, and there is a clear process you can follow. You do not need money, a lawyer, or technical skill to start.

This is a calm, end-to-end guide. We will cover how to find every copy, how to work out which removal route fits your situation, how to send the right notice for free in your own name, and how to check it worked. Work through it at your own pace. You can stop and come back.

First, protect yourself and preserve evidence

Before you remove anything, save proof. This helps if you need to report to a platform, a school, or the police.

• Save the links (the web addresses) where the content appears. You only need the link to request a takedown, never the image itself.
• Take dated screenshots that show the URL and the account posting it.
• Write down usernames, dates, and anything the poster said.

If someone is threatening to leak or spread images unless you pay, this is sextortion. Do not pay, and do not keep negotiating. Paying rarely stops it and often invites more demands. Preserve the evidence, and report to law enforcement. In the US, that is the FBI at ic3.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI. Adults can also create a case at StopNCII.org so participating platforms block the images from being shared. None of this is your fault, and help exists.

If the person depicted is under 18, this is child sexual abuse material, not a normal takedown. Report it to NCMEC through the CyberTipline (report.cybertip.org) and to law enforcement. Do not download or forward the files.

Find every copy

A deepfake rarely lives in one place. Removing one copy while others stay up leaves you exposed, so map the spread first.

• Search your name, usernames, and any captions used alongside the content.
• Use a reverse-image search to find where a still or thumbnail appears. Our guide comparing face search tools like PimEyes explains how these work and their limits, so you can find copies without paying for a subscription you do not want.
• Check the obvious platforms, then the reposts: social feeds, forums, and any site that scraped it.

Keep a simple list of links. You will send one notice per copy, and this list is your worklist.

Work out which route fits

This is the step that decides whether your notice gets actioned quickly. The right route depends on what the deepfake is, not on how upsetting it is. Sending a copyright notice for something that is not a copyright problem usually gets rejected.

Intimate or sexual deepfakes (fake nudes, deepfake porn, NCII)

This is non-consensual intimate imagery. It is never a copyright matter. Use the platform's privacy or NCII reporting form, and for adults, StopNCII.org to hash-match and block the images across participating services. In the US, the TAKE IT DOWN Act, a federal law signed in May 2025, requires covered platforms to remove NCII, including AI-generated and deepfake versions, within 48 hours of a valid request from the depicted person or their authorized representative. Our page on removing deepfake porn and fake nudes walks through this route in detail.

Impersonation, fake accounts, or a cloned voice

If the deepfake is being used to pose as you, run a fake profile, or clone your voice, this is an impersonation and likeness issue. Use the platform's impersonation or identity report form. Your right of publicity, the right to control commercial use of your own name and likeness, applies here. This is not a DMCA matter.

Copyright, only if you own the source

Copyright, or a DMCA notice, applies in one narrow case: the deepfake was built from a photo or video you created and own, such as a selfie you took. Then you can file a DMCA notice as the copyright holder. If you did not take the source image, this route does not fit, so use one of the two above.

Prepare and send the notice, free, in your own name

You send the request yourself and stay the filer of record. That matters, because platforms respond fastest to the depicted person or the rights holder. Every takedown is free, on every platform, with no card required.

1. Pick the copy at the top of your list and confirm its route from the section above.
2. Open that platform's correct form: privacy or NCII, impersonation, or copyright.
3. State plainly who you are, that the content depicts you, that it is fabricated or non-consensual, and paste the exact link.
4. Reference the legal basis that fits: the TAKE IT DOWN Act and platform NCII policy for intimate imagery, right of publicity for impersonation, or your copyright ownership for a DMCA notice.
5. Submit, then save the confirmation or reference number next to that link on your list.
6. Repeat for the next copy. Same person, same day, one link at a time.

If wording each notice feels like too much right now, LinksGone gives you the correct form and a filled-in template for each platform and each type of content, so you are not staring at a blank box. Start at our deepfake removal guide. You file in your own name, and it stays free.

Check for removal, then repeat

Removal is never guaranteed, and timing varies a lot by platform. Some act within a day or two. Others take longer or ask follow-up questions. Check each link after a few days.

• If the content is gone, mark it done and move to the next.
• If it is still up, reply to the platform's ticket with your reference number and restate the legal basis politely.
• If new copies appear, add them to your list and file for each one.

A few situations are messier, and it is fair to say so. Mugshot sites, data brokers, and doxxing pages often need a per-site opt-out, and results vary. Google's "Results about you" and personal-info removal tools can suppress search results that expose your contact details, which reduces visibility even when a page stays live. No honest tool can promise a clean wipe of the whole internet, but steady, correct notices remove copies one by one and shrink the spread.

You can do this

Finding a deepfake of yourself is frightening, but the path out is ordinary work: find the copies, pick the right route, send free notices in your own name, and follow up. If you want a calmer place to start, our Instagram deepfake removal walkthrough and the main guide will hand you the exact forms and templates, at no cost. Take it one link at a time. You are allowed to ask for help, and this is fixable.