DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, this isn’t legal advice and this is only for educational purposes. The ideas in this post aren’t legal advice and do not replace you seeking advice from a lawyer.
Instagram is a social photo-sharing app. It’s common that other Instagram accounts will post photos or videos that don’t belong to them.
Although the platform is about social photo sharing, it doesn’t mean that an account has the permission to share content that isn’t their own.
Many large Instagram accounts only share content from others. This used to result in exposure and follows, likes and comments for the owner of the content. While this does still happen, the exposure isn’t as good as it used to be.
Thanks algorithm changes and reduced engagement…
File a DMCA Takedown Request
If you want to take down a photo/video in which you own the copyright, you’ll file a DMCA takedown request. It stands for Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Watch how to report copyright infringements on Instagram with step-by-step instructions.
As I am not a lawyer, I can’t advise on intellectual property and when you should vs shouldn’t file a request. However, if you want to leave a comment, I can tell you what I have down in the past based on my own research.
Batch File DMCA Requests With a Copyright Collection.
I have created a ‘Copyright’ collection on Instagram, using their saved collection feature. I save all images use without permission to this collection, then go through and report the content when I have time.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, this isn’t legal advice and this is only for educational purposes. The ideas in this post aren’t legal advice and do not replace you seeking advice from a lawyer.
Hey Rachel, thank you for sharing this. I am curious to know if you d write to the account that used the photo first and ask them to remove it or you would report it to instagram straight away.
Hey Katia, glad you enjoyed it! These days, I don’t. I just report it. That being said, I wouldn’t report an image if a brand I wanted to work with shared it or if there was an opportunity to talk to the brand directly. It’s totally a personal preference. I just try to protect my energy as much as possible. You could create a ‘quick response’ in IG if you have a business account to save you time. At the end of the day always be nice, but protect your time and energy too. Hope that helps:)
How are you discovering your stolen content on IG? Just by chance or from others telling you they saw one of your images? Do you know if there is a way to do a reverse image search to find if your content is being used by others? Thank you!
There are a couple of ways that I find them. People tell me they saw an image being used without permission (sometimes it’s an account that is using a lot of images from people in the community. They recognise the shot and reach out to me). Sometimes the images are reposted using a repost app and I get tagged in it. I especially don’t like it when they repost my caption and it shares my personal thoughts or stories. Other times the account might tag me in the image but not make credit in the caption. Other times the credit is so buried that it’s not correct or reasonable credit. Sometimes it some up in discover. There are some paid services that you can do image searches for where your images are. However, I don’t know if they scan the app? Personally I don’t spend time looking too deeply otherwise I’d never get anything done!
I’ve had hundreds of my images reused on IG, most of them stolen by bot accounts trying to get followers to sell. Some just use my image, some use both image and caption. Hashtags are what these bot accounts use to find images and I find that these “thefts” always increase during the holiday season. Unfortunately IG doesn’t allow me to report accounts that have 98% of their posts consisting of my images. I have to go to each post and report them individually. Very annoying and time consuming on the computer!
Yes Sue, those accounts are a problem! IG needs a system like Pinterest. Where after a certain number of strikes your account is disabled. It’s very frustrating that happens. So sorry to hear that.
Photography has become so devalued over the years, protecting it is a never ending battle 🙁
It sure is a never-ending battle! *Sigh*
Did you ever had a problem where Instagram purposefully didn’t want to remove stolen arts? I’m an amateur artist, and I’ve saw that someone has posted my works on Insta, without even crediting me. I’ve reported it and send DMCA 8 times already, but every time they’re like “We are not sure if you are the author. Give us a proof” and when I give them a lot of proofs they send email with “For the reasons previously stated, we cannot act upon your request”. It’s so fruatriating. Did you ever had the same problem? What should I do? Please help.
I’m sorry to hear that Lily! I have not come across this yet. I can understand how frustrating that must be. Are you able to show metadata in the photo to prove it’s yours, or secondary locations of files?
You mean I should do a screenshot of the date I’ve created my photo? I’m not sure if this is gonna work, tbh. I’ve tried everything – a high resolution copy of my photo, my watermark on said photo… *sigh* I don’t know what should I do. Can you explain in more details what exactly do you wrote in a DMCA you’ve send? Please.
I forgot to mention – I also gave them a link to the site where I’ve originally posted my works. That didn’t work either. -_-
Which site do you host your work on?
I’ve never had a request denied before I’m afraid to say. I literally just did exactly as in the video and I usually give them links to both my IG where I have shared the photo (I get the link from the desktop) and then I usually like to my portfolio or Pinterest where I have the image. Sometimes people even use my images with my watermark in them which is even easier to have it taken down. I am sorry if that doesn’t help any more.
I host my arts on pixiv and AO3. I gave them links to both, explained that someone has posted my works without my consent, but still, they didn’t do anything. I’ve send them back an email with an ask why did I do wrong and why they don’t want to remove it even though I gave all details and informations, but they never responded to it. I don’t know what to do anymore, that’s so depressing. 🙁
Hello, If someone took a photo of my 3yo daughter off of facebook and posted on instagram, how long is the process to get it removed? I filed a complaint through instagram and sent them my original of the photo and have still not heard back and the photo is still up. Is this a long process? Thanks
I am so sorry to hear this! Usually, I get an email confirmation and within 24 hrs the post is removed. How long have you been waiting?
Hi Rachel,
I had one of my photos reposted by a page and assigned credit to another page. Does that count as copyright infringement that assigned credit reposted that picture but assigned me credit in their post?
Thanks!
Mitchell
Hey Mitchell, if they don’t have your express permission as the artist and copyright holder to use their photo it breaches copyright. No matter if they correctly or incorrectly assign credit. You have two options, to ask them to correct the credit, or get it removed. If you’d like to work with this account or brand, I’d have a conversation first. But I usually don’t have the time to DM everyone, so I just get them removed. Good luck!
That is very helpful Rachel thank you! As I understand it, a DMCA is for reporting a digital medium infringement….
What about a print violation? I just discovered one of my photos (brand work) on a person’s (print) cookbook. She self-published it and used one of my photos without permission or credit!
I just can’t believe it that anybody would do something like this!
Oh no! Sorry to hear that Marilena. I have had a magazine use my photo without permission one or twice and I was able to contact the publisher/magazine and have a discussion about it. But if they are self-published, it can be trickier. In what context did they use it? Maybe they don’t realise they aren’t allowed to do that. Have you tried to reach out to them? Most of the time, it’s a misunderstanding so I always go in being polite and open to solutions.
This person used my photo for a recipe in the cookbook. It is a whole page photo and the recipe is on the opposite page. Most of the photos are not good quality and many are from “Unsplash” with credit. Unfortunately, I don’t think it is a misunderstanding…
I will not contact this person before I do some research and come up with a plan. I even bought the book to see if there is any credit given ….. There is not.
I think my options are either to send her an invoice or file a “Cease and desist”. Depending on the response, I might have to hire a lawyer. I am trying to find out what a reasonable amount to charge. Would you have any suggestions on that? The photo is three years old and it was brand work!
Thank you Rachel!
Thanks for providing some context! I know that it can feel like it’s done on purpose, but from experience sometimes we don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. So I always go in with an open mind and kind voice 🙂 (I know that can be hard sometimes). This image was for a brand too? Was it a big brand? Sometimes they can help you leverage their resources. I would check out Getty’s calculator for rights managed photos and start there. If you want to do that and run a figure past me, send me a DM on Instagram.
Thank you very much Rachel for your response. No, the brand is rather small and I don’t think I should involve them right now…..
I will check again the Getty’s calculator, and see if I can find anything there…. I might send you a DM on Instagram as you suggested! Many thanks Rachel!
What did you write in the explanation? Instagram must have sent you an email asking explanation right?
I usually write that someone is using my images without permission and where my images are stored. So far, I’ve never received an email from Instagram asking for more information. The images are just automatically taken down. Did you receive an email from IG asking for more of an explanation?