If your photos are being used by cyber trolls for internet posts that are intended to harass, defame and hurt you or others, and you’re wondering about how to have them removed, here are some tips…
Google will potentially remove images from its search results in response to a valid DMCA Request (start here: https://support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905?hl=en#ts=1115648).
Google will also remove an image from its search results, once that image has been removed by the ‘host’ site (the website on which the article containing the image has been posted). Once an image has been removed from the host site, then you can go here – https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/removals – to let Google know that it has been removed, which they will confirm and then (eventually) remove from their search results. It can take some time, so be patient. It won’t happen instantly. If you think it’s gone for good but then it shows up again, then it’s possible that it has been posted elsewhere on the internet. Make sure to check the ‘Landing Page URL’ by right-clicking the thumbnail image from within the image search results and choosing ‘copy link address’. That is the URL that you’ll need to paste into the Google’s removal console.
If the image has been posted on a ‘scam’, ‘cheater’ or ‘gossip’ website, don’t waste your time trying to reason with those people. They won’t do anything without payment,* which requires engaging a content removal business, which will charge you thousands (and then share it with the websites that are hosting the defamatory content about you). It’s quite a racket. Unless you are willing to pay, you’re going to need a court order to have those images / posts removed from those websites. Google however, will still remove the images from their search results in response to a valid DMCA Request – so that is always worth undertaking.
Other websites on which defamatory or hurtful content might appear, such as Pinterest, Reddit, RipOff Report and other home-made WordPress websites, may be willing to communicate with you, but they are unlikely to take images or posts down from their websites out of compassion. The best thing to do, is to file a copyright complaint for unauthorized use of the image. You’ll need to either navigate through the website’s map to find the appropriate form or perform a Google search (ie ‘remove content from Reddit’, etc.) Depending upon the site and the severity of the post, you may be able to get the entire post removed. At the very least, they will remove the image if you can satisfy them that you own or represent the owner of the copyright for that image.
There can be a lot more to the content removal process than what I’ve touched upon here. These are possible starting points. If you are unfortunate to have a lot of negative content out there about you, then naturally, the removal process can become more challenging.
If you have any questions, send them via this form: https://clear-a-name.com/contact-us/
* Some of these websites may respond to a valid DMCA request sent directly to them via their contact or removal form. Also worth a shot.