On this page
Who does what, at a glance
| Option | For what | What it does | What it doesn't do |
|---|---|---|---|
| You | A single item, a first report | Report to the platform, request erasure or delisting, go to the police | Keep up alone with dozens of copies and re-created accounts, week after week |
| A lawyer | Threats, criminal complaints, lawsuits, damages | Advise you, help you file a complaint, go to court (including urgent proceedings), claim damages, represent you | Report and follow up on dozens of items every day, which isn't their usual role |
| A reputation agency | Your image, your reviews, a communication crisis | Help you reply, create content, run your social media, push some results down | Delete content that is true and lawful: a result pushed down is still online |
| SOS Deepfake | Illegitimate content | Find copies, gather dated evidence, report on the right grounds, follow up, watch for content coming back | Give legal advice, prosecute anyone, manage your image, force a platform's hand |
One thing they share: nobody, whether a lawyer, an agency or us, decides for a platform or a search engine.
1. Doing it yourself: often enough for a single case
- Save evidence before you report: the full URL of each item, dated screenshots, the account's exact handle. Our checklist: save evidence before reporting.
- Report on the most precise grounds (impersonation, non-consensual intimate image, private information) and write down every report number.
- Challenge a refusal. In the EU, the Digital Services Act requires platforms to explain their decisions and offer an internal appeal. Our takedown request template gives you the wording.
For an intimate image, two free tools help stop it spreading on partner platforms, and the image never leaves your device: StopNCII.org if you were 18 or over in the image, Take It Down if it was taken before you turned 18. They only cover partner platforms, not the whole internet.
Doing it alone gets heavy when the content is copied across many sites, fake accounts come back under new names, your reports go unanswered, or seeing the content again hurts.
2. A lawyer: for justice and compensation
A lawyer advises you on your rights, helps you file a complaint, can ask a court for urgent measures, claims damages and represents you. They can also ask a judge to order a platform to disclose who is behind an anonymous account, which no report can do. Some legal actions have short deadlines, so don't wait if you are considering one.
Free or low-cost legal help exists in many countries: legal aid based on your income, free consultations organized by bar associations or courts, and victim support lines such as 116 006, the EU number for victims of crime. Check whether your insurance includes legal protection. Reporting to the police is free, even if you don't know who is behind it.
3. A reputation agency: for your image
An agency works on perception: it helps you reply to reviews and criticism, creates content, runs your social media and supports you through a communication crisis. It's a real, useful job when the content bothering you is true and lawful.
Keep one distinction in mind: removing deletes content at the source; delisting takes it out of a search engine, often only for searches on your name, while the page stays online; pushing a result down deletes nothing: it stays online, lower down, and can climb back. For a negative but genuine review, a calm, factual reply, which you can write yourself, often reassures people more than a vanished review would.
4. SOS Deepfake: for content that shouldn't be online
A fake account in your name, a deepfake, leaked private content, a fake page imitating your brand: that is our job. Our fake profile and impersonation removal, deepfake removal, leak removal and online brand protection services work through the official procedures of platforms and Google, with dated evidence. Our team and our AI technology search, document, report and follow up, with formidable efficiency. Every report is checked before it is sent. To keep content from coming back, the Online Shield watches your public presence: every day, an automated check. Every week, a full check-up of your online presence. The moment we find something, we act. We see what is public: not private messages. No result is guaranteed: the final decision belongs to the platform. Fixed price, refunded if no action is possible: see our pricing page. Private information or content leaking right now? To get it taken down fast, see our Emergency Response. If someone is threatening or blackmailing you, contact the police first.
5. When SOS Deepfake is not the right choice
- A genuine negative review or an accurate article. We don't remove true content because it's unwelcome. Reply to it yourself, or work with an agency.
- Blackmail, threats, sextortion. The police first, then a lawyer. Don't pay, keep the messages. We only come in afterwards, to get content that is already circulating taken down. See sextortion: what to do.
- A lawsuit, damages, having the person punished. That's a lawyer's job. We don't give legal advice and we don't represent anyone.
- A single post you can report yourself. Do that first: if it's removed, you don't need anyone.
- Someone under 18. Parents and the police first, together with Take It Down. See help for under-18s.
6. How the options fit together
- Our evidence file is yours. The URLs, dated screenshots, account handles and report numbers we gather can go to your lawyer or with a police report.
- Order matters. If legal action is on the table, talk to your lawyer before everything is removed: they may want some content formally recorded first.
- Each to their own ground. A fake account is approaching your clients? We get it removed while you, or an agency, reassure your clients with a public message.
7. Before you pay anyone
- Be wary of anyone promising certain removal or deletion "from the whole internet." Ask exactly what will be done: removal, delisting, or content published to push a result down.
- Never send intimate images, to anyone. A URL and a screenshot of the page are enough.
- Refuse fake reviews. In the EU, sending or commissioning fake consumer reviews is banned as an unfair commercial practice in all circumstances (Directive (EU) 2019/2161).
- Check the company (legal name, registration number, terms, invoice), avoid unsolicited offers, refuse payment in crypto or gift cards, never share your passwords.
More warning signs: spotting a fake content removal service. This page is general information, not legal advice.
You do not have to deal with this alone
Every day, automated searches check your name, usernames or brand. Every week, our team runs a full check-up of your online presence (every month with the Personal Shield). Anything we find is reported the same day and followed up until the platform answers. Flat price, unlimited reports with the Online Shield.
Rather hand it over? See how we can get a fake profile removed.
See pricing