StopNCII, Take It Down, and Platform Reports: What Each One Covers

Before you send anything

Keep proof. Do not create a new copy.

Most intimate-image cases need a safer way to keep records, not another public checklist. This page covers the general rules; the details go in your private case file.

Read this first: education, not legal advice

This guide explains your rights and the official removal options in plain English. AboutUs is a content-removal agency, not a law firm, and nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your specific legal rights, talk to a licensed attorney in your state.

We wrote this guide because the official options below are genuinely useful, and most people never hear about them until they are already panicking. Before you pay anyone, you should be able to see what the free official path can reach, where it stops, and when paid AboutUs work makes sense.

One firm rule, stated up front: avoid anyone who promises certainty. No official option and no agency can promise an image comes off the internet everywhere.

The three things people mix up

These names sound alike and get confused constantly. They are three different things, and which one you use depends mostly on one fact: how old you were when the image was taken.

Take It Down is run by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. It is for nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images of a person who was under 18 when the image was taken. It is the official child-safety option for that situation.

StopNCII.org is the adult equivalent. It is for people who were 18 or older both when the image was taken and now. It is run by a UK non-profit, the Revenge Porn Helpline at SWGfL.

The TAKE IT DOWN Act is a federal law, not a public upload tool. Signed in May 2025, it makes knowingly publishing nonconsensual intimate imagery, including AI deepfakes, a federal crime when its conditions are met, and requires covered platforms to remove a reported image within 48 hours of a valid request. It is a separate legal option that can work alongside the official tools. We explain it in depth on our TAKE IT DOWN Act page.

StopNCII.org: for adults 18 and over

If you were an adult when the image was taken, StopNCII.org is an official option to consider. It is run by the Revenge Porn Helpline at SWGfL, a UK non-profit, and is built for adults who need participating services to review matching uploads.

The important safety idea is device-side hashing: the tool creates a fingerprint of selected images on your device, and the image itself is not uploaded to StopNCII.

Participating services can use that hash to review matching uploads under their own policies.

The same honest limit applies. StopNCII only reaches services that participate. It is not a court order, it cannot force a non-participating site to act, and it is not a guarantee. When your situation fits, it is a practical official step before AboutUs work is discussed.

Side by side: which one, and what each one is not

Choose by age at the time the image was taken. Under 18: use Take It Down. 18 or older then and now: use StopNCII. If you are unsure or both could apply, the under-18 rule wins, and you should treat it as a minor matter, covered in the safety block below.

Both options share the same shape and the same honest ceiling. Both keep your image on your device and share only a hash. Both reach only participating services. Neither works inside end-to-end encrypted chats. Neither can force a site that does not participate to remove anything, and neither is a guarantee.

What neither option does: neither removes a genuine news article or editorial page about you, neither de-indexes results from search on its own beyond the participating partnerships, and neither files anything in court. Those are different problems with different paths.

• 01Under 18 when taken: Take It Down (NCMEC).
• 0218 or older when taken and now: StopNCII.org.
• 03Both: device-side hashing, image stays on the device, participating services only.
• 04Neither: works on encrypted chats, forces non-participating sites, or promises complete removal.
• 05The TAKE IT DOWN Act is the law behind the 48-hour platform takedown duty, not a public upload tool.

Your rights under the TAKE IT DOWN Act

Signed into federal law in May 2025, the TAKE IT DOWN Act makes knowingly publishing intimate images without consent, including AI-generated deepfakes, a federal crime when its conditions are met, and it created a removal duty for platforms on top of that. The Federal Trade Commission enforces the platform duty.

The part that matters for removal: covered platforms must have a process to remove a reported nonconsensual intimate image within 48 hours of a valid request from the person shown or someone authorized to act for them, and to make reasonable efforts to remove known identical copies. That is the platform’s legal duty, not an AboutUs turnaround. Platform obligations became enforceable in May 2026.

This is a right to send a removal request through a covered platform's own intimate-image reporting process. The official hashing tools and a platform report are not competing options; they work together.

If a covered platform has no clear process, the process is broken, or the platform does not act after a valid request, the FTC's TakeItDown.ftc.gov site is for reporting that platform to the FTC. It is not a removal service for you, and it is not a substitute for the platform's own process. For the legal eligibility details, see our dedicated explainer.

Where AboutUs work belongs (and where it does not)

Check the official options first, because they show what already has a free, official path. AboutUs is worth paying for only when coordination, follow-up, or a written record of what was sent changes the shape of the work.

AboutUs work belongs when the official options are not enough and the matter needs one private case file with a written answer. This page names the options; your case file holds the answer for your situation.

Where paying does not help: a paid agency cannot make a non-participating platform act faster than the law requires, cannot promise anything the official options cannot, and cannot remove a genuine news article without the publisher's cooperation or a court order. On search, the honest distinction is that delisting a result from a search engine is a limited result that hides a link, never a substitute for deleting the content at its source. Be skeptical of anyone who blurs those two.

Before you pay, we tell you the work and the one-time price in writing. A person reviews your case within 48 hours of payment, and if we can't take it you get a full refund. Once we accept it, your case room sets out the items we review, the intended outcome, and the limits.

If you want us to look at your case

If your intimate images are already being shared and you want someone to look at it with you, ask us privately. Share a short summary only — never the images themselves.

AboutUs is a paid service. We tell you plainly what fits and what it costs, and you see the price before you pay. A person reviews every paid case within 48 hours, and if we can't take it you get a full refund.