Guides
Removal guides, platform by platform
Most removal requests start with a form the platform or search engine publishes itself, and many are free. These guides walk through those forms, using only the platforms’ own help pages and the text of the law, linked on every page.
Last reviewed · Official sources checked
Search engines
Requests that change what Google or Bing shows. The page itself stays online.
- Mugshots in GoogleA mugshot in Google results: the two Google requests that can applyGoogle can’t delete a mugshot from the site that posts it. Two Google requests can change its results: one for pay-to-remove sites, one for outdated pages.
- Results about youAsk Google to remove your address or phone number from SearchResults about you is Google’s own tool for results showing your home address, phone, or email. How to use it, what else Google may remove, and its limits.
- BingRemoving a result from Bing: which request fitsBing removes search results only in narrow cases, and the page stays online. Which cases Bing lists, where to report each one, and the tool for old pages.
- Outdated resultsThe page is gone but still shows in Google or BingWhen a page was taken down or changed but search still shows the old version, Google and Bing each have a free refresh request. How to use them.
Platforms
Reports made to the site that hosts the review, video, or account.
- Google reviewsHow to report a Google review that breaks Google’s rulesGoogle takes a review down when it breaks Maps policy, not because a business disagrees. How owners report one, where to check it, and the one appeal.
- YouTube privacyHow a YouTube privacy complaint worksA privacy complaint asks YouTube to act on a video that identifies you without consent. Who can file, what counts as identifiable, and what YouTube weighs.
- ImpersonationReport a fake Instagram or Facebook account that uses your nameInstagram and Facebook each have an impersonation report, in the app or by form if you have no account. The steps, and what Instagram asks for.
Copyright and the law
Notices that rest on a statute, with the text of the law linked.
- DMCA noticesDMCA takedown notices: what a valid one containsThe six parts 17 U.S.C. § 512 requires in a takedown notice, where to send it, what a counter notice does, and why it should only cover your own work.
- TAKE IT DOWN ActWhat a TAKE IT DOWN Act request needsWhat the TAKE IT DOWN Act requires of covered platforms, what a valid request includes, who enforces it, and where to go if anyone is under 18.
In-depth explainers
Our longer pages on the law, the free tools and what removal costs.
- How to remove content from the internetThe free official options first, what each result label means, when paid help fits, and how to spot scams.
- How much content removal costsThe published rate card, when a written quote is needed, one-time results against retainers, and pay-to-remove sites.
- Is there a right to be forgotten in the USA?Why the US has no general one, why certainty promises are a red flag, and what does work.
- The TAKE IT DOWN Act, explainedWhat covered platforms must do after a valid request, the official sources, and where the law stops.
- StopNCII, Take It Down and platform reports, comparedWho each tool is for, what each covers, and where each stops.
- An AI app was used on your photoKeep the file with you, check the official options, and ask a free question. Adults 18+.
- Face search results: PimEyes and othersWhat an opt-out can and can’t do, and the difference between the page and the search result.
- Free help and official reporting optionsCrisis lines, adult image tools, NCMEC programs, FTC and police reporting, and Google’s removal options.
How we write these guides
- Every fact about a platform or a law comes from that platform’s own help pages or the text of the law, and the page links to it.
- Each guide shows two dates: when its words last changed, and when we last read the linked official pages against them.
- No statistics, no success rates, and no timelines of ours. When a platform or a law states its own timing, the guide says whose statement it is and links to it.
- A guide never promises a result. The platform, search engine or court decides.
- Examples are labeled as illustrations, never presented as a client’s case.
- The guides are general information, not legal advice. AboutUs is a removal agency, not a law firm.
If something on a guide is wrong or out of date, email support@aboutusagency.com with the page’s address and what changed. We check it against the official source, and when the page is wrong we correct it and update its date.
Before you use any of them
Each guide follows a platform’s or the government’s own page, linked at the end of the guide. A request asks the platform, search engine, or court to decide, and filing one does not settle the outcome. If you are being threatened, or anyone in an image may be under 18, start with the free official safety options instead. For how removal works in general, read how to remove content from the internet.