How to save evidence before you report: screenshots, links, dates and formal records

1. What does each kind of evidence do?

2. The checklist: what to note, page by page

1. The full URL of the page (from the browser, not just the site name). On social networks, copy the address of each post and of the profile. Display names change; profile and post addresses are steadier.
2. The date and time you saw it, and the publication date if the platform shows one.
3. The account or site name and the exact handle.
4. The context: caption, comments, view or share counts, messages naming you.
5. People who saw it: they can describe it and take their own screenshots.
6. Messages you received if someone threatens you or asks for money: keep the whole exchange, with account name and times.
7. Your report references: confirmation emails, ticket numbers, dates.

3. How to take a good screenshot

A useful screenshot makes sense on its own.

1. Capture the whole page, with the address bar visible if you can. On a phone, paste the URL into a note.
2. Keep your device's date and time visible if the screen shows them; otherwise write them down.
3. Take several shots: overview, then close-ups of the content, profile and comments. For long pages, scroll and overlap shots.
4. For videos or stories, record your screen from the profile to the content, with no editing.
5. Keep the original file uncropped and unedited. Annotate or blur only on a copy.
6. Save the link as text in a document.
7. Back up in two places and name files with the date: 2026-10-07_instagram_profile.png.

Public web archiving services exist, but they make the page viewable by others: avoid them for intimate content or pages with personal data. They do not carry the weight of a formal record either.

4. What not to do

• Don't repost the content, even to "raise awareness": it spreads it further.
• Don't forward it to friends, groups or online "investigators." A lawyer, the police or a platform only need your screenshots and links.
• Don't reply to the author or threaten them: it can backfire.
• Don't pay someone blackmailing you. Keep the conversation.
• Don't delete your own messages with the author before saving everything.
• Never edit a piece of evidence, even to "clarify" it.
• Don't wait: content can vanish in hours. Capture first, then report.

5. Intimate or sexual content (you were an adult in the images)

Keeping evidence does not mean keeping the image.

1. Note the exact URL of each page and post first: platforms need it to remove content.
2. Capture the context (account name, address, date) without zooming on the image. A page capture with the image blurred or covered proves the post exists without spreading it.
3. Never share the image, even with a friend or a "verification" site. Send only the URL and a context screenshot.
4. If you have the real image, StopNCII.org creates a digital fingerprint on your device. The image never leaves it, and partner platforms use the fingerprint to block it. The tool is for people aged 18 or over in the images.
5. For a deepfake, note the same things. See fake nude deepfakes and leaked content: what to do.
6. If someone is blackmailing you, keep the whole conversation and read sextortion: what to do.

6. How much weight do screenshots carry?

This depends on your country. In France, where our service is based, civil evidence can be given by any means unless the law says otherwise (Civil Code, article 1358), and criminal offences can be proven by any evidence, with the judge deciding (Code of Criminal Procedure, article 427). A screenshot can therefore be submitted, but the judge weighs it freely. Three limits apply everywhere in practice: it can be challenged because images can be edited; it comes from you, and French civil law says no one can create evidence for themselves (Civil Code, article 1363); and evidence gathered by illegal means, such as breaking into someone's account, may be rejected.

For a platform report or a police complaint, a screenshot with the URL usually does the job. If a case hardens, a formal record is a stronger base.

7. The court officer's record (France: "constat de commissaire de justice")

What it is. In France, a commissaire de justice (formerly huissier) is a public officer who can note material facts in an official report called a constat. For online content, the officer opens the page and describes what appears.

How. The national chamber of commissaires de justice says the officer notes who is acting, the date and time, the device and browser, checks the IP address, clears the cache and cookies, checks that no proxy is in use, then takes full-page captures and keeps the navigation path. These steps come from case law.

Its weight. According to the same chamber, the date, place and acts of the officer are binding until a forgery claim, and the material findings count until proven otherwise. The officer describes without judging: the report does not say whether content is defamatory or illegal. The court decides.

Useful when: you are preparing legal action or a formal notice; the author or platform disputes the content exists; the content may disappear; or a lawyer recommends it.

Not needed when you only ask a platform, search engine or host to remove content: URL, screenshots and a clear explanation usually do.

How to ask. Contact a commissaire de justice near you (commissaire-justice.fr). Outside special cases, the price is freely negotiated, so ask for a quote and timing, and warn them if any content is intimate. Elsewhere, other professionals fill this role (notaries, bailiffs and others). Ask a local lawyer.

8. Filing a police report with your evidence (France)

1. Where: any police station or gendarmerie, or by letter to the public prosecutor. Filing is free. Online filing is limited to property offences by an unknown person; internet fraud has its own site, THESEE. Illegal content can also go to Pharos.
2. Bring: the list of URLs, your screenshots, messages, report references, ID. Official guidance says to bring screenshots, photographs or other proof of the offence.
3. Keep the receipt and ask for a copy of your statement. You can file against "X" if the author is unknown.
4. Mind time limits: 1 year for minor offences, 6 years for misdemeanours, 20 years for felonies, per service-public.
5. If the author is anonymous, usually only a court procedure gets the platform to disclose their details.

9. Then report, with your evidence

In the EU, the Digital Services Act (Regulation 2022/2065, article 16) says a notice should include an explanation of why the content is illegal and its exact electronic location, such as the URL. That is exactly what your checklist holds. For wording, see our takedown request template.