A YouTube video uses your face or voice: how to get it taken down

1. Find your situation

2. Save evidence before you report

For every video: the exact URL (youtube.com/watch?v=…), the channel name and URL, a dated screenshot, and the timestamps (minute and second) where you appear or your voice is heard. YouTube's form asks for them. Note the view count and any comments naming you. If the video is removed later, this is your only record.

3. The privacy complaint (face, voice, AI)

This is the main route when a video shows or imitates you. YouTube's privacy guidelines explicitly cover someone using AI or other tools to alter or generate your voice or image without your permission.

1. Start YouTube's privacy complaint process from YouTube Help, which leads to the "Report a privacy issue" form. Choose the type of violation: image, voice or name; personal information; or AI-altered content.
2. You must be uniquely identifiable: YouTube looks for a combination of image, voice, full name or other identifying information. A first name alone or a fleeting image usually does not qualify.
3. Give the video URLs (up to five per form), timestamps and a clear description of what concerns you.
4. Only you can file, or a parent or guardian for a minor, or a legal representative. YouTube does not accept complaints from other third parties, except for a deceased person (closest family or legal representative).
5. YouTube may first give the uploader time to remove or blur the part concerned (Trim and Blur tools in YouTube Studio). If they don't, YouTube reviews the complaint.
6. What YouTube weighs: whether the content is altered or synthetic, whether it is disclosed as such to viewers, whether it is parody or satire, and whether it shows a public figure in a sensitive situation (such as endorsing a product or a political candidate). A private person usually has a stronger case than a celebrity.

A privacy complaint targets the parts that concern you: if the whole video is a copy of yours, copyright (section 4) is often more direct.

Likeness detection. In YouTube Studio (Content detection, then Likeness), YouTube offers a tool that flags videos where your face appears to be altered or AI-generated. It is limited to channel owners and managers aged 18 and over, requires a government ID and a short selfie video, is still described by YouTube as experimental and not available in some countries, and does not detect voices yet. Matches go through the same privacy review: the tool does not remove anything by itself.

4. Your video reuploaded: the copyright removal request

If you shot the video (or own it), reposting it without permission is a copyright issue, even if the channel does not claim to be you.

1. In YouTube Studio, open Content detection and select "New removal request". You can also email copyright@youtube.com with the same information.
2. Provide your contact details, a description of your original video, the URL of each copy, the two required good-faith and accuracy statements, and your full legal name as a signature.
3. You can schedule the removal for 7 days later, giving the uploader time to take the video down themselves.
4. Be aware that your full legal name and email may be shared with the uploader. Misusing the process can get your own account terminated.
5. The Copyright Match Tool in YouTube Studio can surface full reuploads of your videos if your channel has access to it and you were the first to upload the video.

Copyright protects the footage, not your face: if someone films a new video of you or imitates you with AI, go back to section 3. See also our page on copyright infringement.

5. A channel impersonating you

YouTube's rules ban copying a channel's name, profile picture, banner or style to mislead viewers, and using someone's AI-generated likeness or voice to suggest they endorse the content. Fan channels are allowed if they say so clearly.

1. On the channel page, click "…more" in the description, then "Report user", and pick the matching reason.
2. Also report each video involved: YouTube says that reporting a channel does not trigger a review of its videos.
3. Warn your audience from your official accounts, especially if the fake channel promises giveaways or investments.

For fake accounts on other networks, see fake profile: what to do.

6. Get the video out of Google

YouTube videos often show up in Google. Once a video is removed from YouTube, it drops out of results over time; Google's outdated content tool can speed this up. If the video was copied to other websites, see our guide to removing a Google result.

7. If YouTube says no, and what the law says

1. In the EU, YouTube accepts reports of illegal content through Google's legal removal form, and must explain its decisions and offer an appeal under the Digital Services Act. Our takedown request template gives you the wording.
2. In the US, many states protect your name, image and voice against commercial use (the "right of publicity"). The federal TAKE IT DOWN Act requires covered platforms to remove non-consensual intimate images, including AI fakes, within 48 hours of a valid request; it does not cover non-sexual deepfakes. A broader federal bill on digital replicas, the NO FAKES Act, cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee in June 2026 but is not law.
3. In the UK, there is no general image right: depending on the facts, data protection law, defamation or harassment may apply, and sharing an intimate image without consent, including one that only appears to show you, is an offence.

This page is general information, not legal advice: for a lawsuit, talk to a lawyer. If you are under 18, see our under-18 page.