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FAMILY & CONNECTION

An image shared without consent? You can get it taken down.

A federal law now requires apps and sites to remove intimate images shared without consent, including AI-made fakes, within 48 hours of a request.

By Techish · 3 min read · Updated

THE SHORT VERSION

Ask the platform to remove it; it has 48 hours. Use Take It Down (under 18) or StopNCII.org (adults) to limit the spread, and report the platform at TakeItDown.ftc.gov if it doesn’t act.

A familiar situation

Imagine a parent learns that a classmate passed around a fake, AI-altered picture of their teen. It wasn’t real, but it feels just as harmful. The law now treats AI-made images like real ones, and there are clear steps to get them removed.

1. Ask the platform to remove it

Use the app’s or site’s report option on the image, often under the three dots near the post, or its help center if you don’t have an account. Under the Take It Down Act, social media, messaging and image-sharing services must remove intimate images shared without consent, and known identical copies, within 48 hours of a request. That includes digitally altered and AI-made images.

2. Limit the spread

If the person in the image was under 18 when it was taken, NCMEC’s free Take It Down service can help; for adults, StopNCII.org does the same. Both create a digital fingerprint of the image on your own device, so the image itself is never uploaded, and participating platforms use it to find and block copies.

3. Report it and get support

If a platform doesn’t remove the image in 48 hours, or has no working way to ask, report it to the FTC at TakeItDown.ftc.gov. Sharing these images is a crime: you can report the person to local police and the FBI at tips.fbi.gov. If someone is threatening you, don’t pay or send anything; block them and talk with someone you trust.

One thing to try today

Open one app your family uses and find where its Report option and help center are. Knowing the path ahead of time makes it quicker if you ever need it.

Read more from trusted sources

General educational guidance. If you believe someone has stolen your information or money, use the official recovery guidance at IdentityTheft.gov or ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

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