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Finding out that an intimate photo of you might be shared — or is already spreading — is frightening, and the first hours matter. Two free services exist to stop intimate images being shared before they go viral, and neither one asks you to upload the photo to anyone.
StopNCII how it works: select the intimate photo or video on your device, and StopNCII turns it into a hash, a digital fingerprint, without the file ever leaving your phone or computer. Only the fingerprint is shared with platforms, so they can block uploads. If the image was taken when you were under 18, use NCMEC’s Take It Down instead.
A hash is a short code generated from a file that acts like a digital fingerprint: identical copies of the same image produce the same hash, so a platform can recognise the image without ever seeing it. That single idea is what makes both services work, and it is also what sets their limits. This guide walks through both services step by step, explains which one fits your situation, and covers what to do when hashing alone is not enough. It is general information, not legal advice, and if you are in immediate danger or someone is threatening you, contact the police first.
One scope note before we start: this article is about private intimate images — photos taken for yourself or shared with one person in confidence. If the content was made to sell, for example posts from a subscription page, StopNCII’s case form excludes commercial material, and the copyright route in our guide to finding and removing leaked creator content is the right starting point. And if the photo is an everyday, non-intimate picture posted without your permission, follow our guide on someone posting a photo of you without permission instead. For the wider picture — searching for your photos online and locking down your accounts — see our Face Search and Photo Privacy Guide.
What Is StopNCII and How Does It Work?
StopNCII.org is a free tool operated by the Revenge Porn Helpline, which is part of SWGfL, a UK not-for-profit charity. According to StopNCII.org, the tool was developed with Meta, and it works entirely on your own device: when you choose a file, the fingerprint is created on your phone or computer, the picture or video is never uploaded, and only the hash leaves your device. StopNCII then shares that hash with participating companies, which compare new uploads against it and review any match under their own rules.
The results StopNCII reports for its operator are strong. According to StopNCII.org, the Revenge Porn Helpline has an over 90% removal rate and has successfully removed over 300,000 individual non-consensual intimate images from the internet. Those are the operator’s own figures, and they describe images the Helpline itself removed, not a guarantee for any single case. What they do show is that the system is used at real scale and that platforms do act on the hashes they receive.
Before you can create a case, StopNCII asks you to confirm a short eligibility checklist. Answer each point honestly, because ineligible media will not be removed:
- You are the person who appears in the image or video. You cannot open a case on someone else’s behalf.
- You were 18 or older when it was taken, and you are 18 or older now.
- You still hold the file, or a clean screenshot of it, on a device you control.
- It shows you nude, semi-nude or in a sexual act, and you did not agree to it being published online.
- It is not commercial or professional material, such as posts produced for a subscription page or a paid shoot.
- If it is a deepfake or other generated image of you, you fingerprint the fake itself, never the ordinary photo it was built from.
Where you live is not a barrier. According to StopNCII.org, the tool can be used from anywhere in the world, and it does not ask for your name or email address to open a case. That anonymity matters: many people who need this tool do not want their name attached to a report about an intimate image, and the design respects that.
StopNCII or Take It Down: Which Service Fits Your Situation?
The two services do the same job with the same hashing idea, but they serve different people. Picking the wrong one wastes time you may not have, so use this table first and then follow the steps for your service below.
| Question | StopNCII | Take It Down (NCMEC) |
|---|---|---|
| Who is it for? | Adults: you were 18 or older when the image was taken and are 18 or older now | Anyone whose image was taken when they were under 18, whatever their age now |
| Who runs it? | Revenge Porn Helpline, part of SWGfL | National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) |
| What leaves your device? | Only the hash fingerprint | Only the hash fingerprint |
| Do you stay anonymous? | Yes: no name or email required | Yes: you remain anonymous while using the service |
| Where do hashes go? | Partner platforms listed on StopNCII’s partners page | Participating online platforms on NCMEC’s list |
| What if the image is already online? | Report the post to the platform first, then hash to stop re-uploads | Report to the platform and to NCMEC’s CyberTipline as well |
The age line is the hard boundary. If the image was taken when you were under 18 — even if you are an adult now — StopNCII is not the right service, and Take It Down is. In the UK, under-18 images can also be reported through Report Remove, the service run by the Internet Watch Foundation and Childline, which is designed for young people. The rest of this guide covers each service in turn, then the threat situation and the limits of hashing.
How to Create a StopNCII Case, Step by Step
Work through these steps on a device only you can unlock, and pause any shared photo album or cloud folder first so the files are not copied anywhere while you work. The whole process takes a few minutes, and you do not need to create an account.
- Open StopNCII.org and read the eligibility screen. Agree only if every condition applies to the files you plan to protect.
- Answer the age question. Choosing under 18 ends the flow and points you to NCMEC or the Internet Watch Foundation instead.
- Say who appears in the files. Choosing someone else ends the case, because only the person shown can submit it.
- Answer the screens about the setting, nudity and sexual activity so the tool can confirm it is the right service.
- Say whether the material is already online. If it is, the form reminds you that reporting directly to the platform may be the fastest help for the copy that is already live.
- Select the files from your device. Check every file name before the hashes are generated so you do not fingerprint the wrong picture.
- Create the case password or PIN. StopNCII’s own How It Works page warns that if the case number and PIN are lost, they are not recoverable, so store them before you press submit.
- Decide whether to have the case number emailed to you. The email field is optional; if you leave it blank, copy the number from the confirmation screen.
- Review and submit. Submitting is the moment you consent to the hashes being shared with participating companies.
- Check your case status later with the case number and PIN. Updates are not instant, so allow a few days, and you can withdraw the case at any time with the same details.
Worked example (illustrative): Maya, 26, receives a message from an ex-partner threatening to post private photos she sent him during their relationship. She still has the original photos on her own phone. Before replying to him, she opens StopNCII on her phone, confirms she is the person in the photos and was an adult when they were taken, and selects the three original files. She creates a case password, saves the case number and password together in her password manager under a neutral name, and submits. She then stops replying to the ex, screenshots his threats, and reports him to the police. A few days later she checks her case status with the case number. The hashes are now with partner platforms, so if he uploads one of those exact photos, the platform can match the fingerprint and act on it. Nothing was uploaded to StopNCII, and her name was never attached to the case.
Two details in that example are worth underlining. First, you can open a case before anything is posted — a threat is enough, and hashing early is better than hashing after the image has spread. Second, the case number and password are the only way back into your case. StopNCII states plainly on its How It Works page that lost details are not recoverable, so treat them like a safe combination and store them somewhere only you can reach.
How Does Take It Down (NCMEC) Work for Under-18 Images?
Take It Down is NCMEC’s free service for removing or stopping the online sharing of nude, partially nude or sexually explicit images or videos taken of you when you were under 18. According to NCMEC, you can remain anonymous while using the service and you will not have to send your images or videos to anyone. It works on public or unencrypted online platforms that have agreed to participate.
- Go to Take It Down and read the “Who is Take It Down for?” section to confirm it fits your situation.
- Select the image or video you want hashed from your device and click “Get Started”. Do not send, share or download any image or video in order to submit it — submissions should only be made for images or videos you already have on your device.
- Take It Down generates a hash, a digital fingerprint, for each image or video. Your image or video remains on your device and is not uploaded. Only the hash value is provided to NCMEC.
- The hash is added to a secure list maintained by NCMEC and shared only with participating online platforms, which use the list to scan their public or unencrypted sites and apps for matching content.
- If a platform detects a match on its service, it can take action to limit the spread of the explicit content.
- If the image has already been posted, report it to NCMEC’s CyberTipline as well, because platforms may have limited ability to remove content that was posted in the past.
One warning from NCMEC deserves repeating: do not share the images or videos on any social media after you have submitted them. Once the hash is in the list, platforms may scan for it, and if you post the content yourself afterwards it may be flagged and could put a block on your social media account. In the UK, images taken when you were under 18 can also be reported through Report Remove, run by the Internet Watch Foundation and Childline, which handles removal requests for young people directly with platforms. If anyone is threatening you about the images, or the material shows a person under 18, contact the police straight away.
Someone Is Threatening to Share Your Photos: What to Do Right Now
A threat to share intimate images is a form of abuse, and the person making it is counting on panic. Slow down and work this list in order; the first three steps take minutes and protect everything that follows.
- Do not pay, and do not send more images. Paying a sextortion demand almost never ends the threats, and it marks you as someone who will pay again.
- Stop replying, but keep everything. Screenshot the threats, the profile, and any messages, with dates and usernames visible. Our guide to saving evidence before you report a stolen photo explains how to keep a clean record that police and platforms can actually use.
- Open a StopNCII case now, before anything is posted. You do not need to wait for the image to appear online. Hashing the files you hold means partner platforms can block the upload the moment it is attempted.
- Report the threat to the police. Threatening to share intimate images is a crime in many countries, including the UK, where it is an offence to share or threaten to share an intimate image without consent. Give the police the evidence you saved in step two.
- Use the TAKE IT DOWN Act route if a platform is slow. In the United States, the TAKE IT DOWN Act requires covered platforms to remove intimate images shared without consent, and known identical copies, within 48 hours of a valid request, according to the FTC. The Act was signed on 19 May 2025, the FTC began enforcing the platform requirements on 19 May 2026, and it covers real images, altered images and AI-generated deepfakes. If a covered platform misses the 48-hour window or has no removal process, you can report it to the FTC at TakeItDown.ftc.gov.
- Tell someone you trust. A friend, a family member or a support service such as the Revenge Porn Helpline can help you work through the steps and stay steady while the reports are processed.
What Hashing Cannot Do — and What to Do Instead
Hashing is a blocking layer, not a magic eraser. StopNCII is candid about this on its own How It Works page: it cannot remove images from the whole internet, only from the participating platforms listed on its partners page. Knowing the gaps in advance stops you relying on one tool for a job that needs several.
| Limit | What it means | Do this alongside it |
|---|---|---|
| Only partner platforms use the hashes | A leak forum or offshore site that is not a partner never sees your fingerprint | Send a removal notice to that host and ask search engines to delist the page |
| Matching works on near-identical copies | Cropped, filtered or trimmed versions can slip past the original hash | Hash each edited version you hold as its own case |
| Video and image hashes differ | A video’s thumbnail is not covered by the video hash | Take screenshots of the video and hash them alongside it |
| Encrypted messaging is out of reach | Private chats and direct messages are not scanned for matches | Report inside the app and keep your own evidence log |
| Commercial media are excluded | Paid posts and shoots made for sale fall outside the tool | Use the copyright route for leaked paid content |
| Copies already online still need reports | The hash stops future uploads; it does not delete what is already live | Report each live URL to the platform that hosts it |
For copies that are already online, finding them is half the job. A reverse image search on a cropped, non-intimate frame — never the intimate image itself — can show where copies have appeared, and each live URL then needs its own report to the platform hosting it. Search engines are a separate step: delisting a page from results does not delete the page, but it stops strangers finding it through a search, so file the removal request with Google and Bing as well. And remember that StopNCII does not investigate who posted the image or identify the uploader; that is police work, which is why step four of the threat list matters.
How to Remove Intimate Images from Facebook, Instagram and TikTok
Hashing stops re-uploads. Removing copies that are already live still runs through each platform’s own reporting tools, and the fastest route is usually reporting from the post itself. Meta’s non-consensual intimate image reporting covers Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Messenger, and it offers a form for people without an account, so you do not need to be logged in to ask for a removal. TikTok, Reddit, X, Snap and the other partner platforms each have their own in-app report flow for intimate images shared without consent; look for the report option on the post or profile, choose the non-consensual intimate image category, and include the link to the exact post rather than a general complaint.
When you report, be specific: the exact URL of the post, a short statement that the image shows you and was shared without your consent, and whether the same account has posted it more than once. If the platform removes the image, ask whether it will also block identical re-uploads — several large platforms bank a removed image’s hash to catch copies, which is the same idea as StopNCII applied inside one service. If a post is rejected, appeal it: automated moderation gets these decisions wrong, and a short appeal restating that the image is non-consensual often succeeds where the first report did not.
Finally, check the wider web, not just the app where you first saw it. A photo removed from Instagram can still sit on a repost account, a forum or a search result, so run the reverse image search step from the previous section, file the search-engine delisting requests, and keep a simple log of every report — platform, date, link and reference number — so you can follow up without starting from scratch. If the photo is not intimate at all and someone simply posted an everyday picture of you without permission, the steps are different: our guide on someone posting a photo of you without permission covers that case, including the untag and copyright routes.
FAQs
Does StopNCII upload my intimate photos anywhere?
No. The hash is created on your own device, and only that short fingerprint is shared with StopNCII and its partner platforms. Your photo or video is never uploaded, never viewed by StopNCII staff, and stays on your device throughout. That is the core privacy promise of the service, and it is stated on StopNCII’s own How It Works page.
What should I do if the image was taken when I was under 18?
Use NCMEC’s Take It Down service, not StopNCII, because StopNCII only accepts images taken when you were 18 or older. Take It Down works the same way — a hash made on your device, shared with participating platforms — and you stay anonymous. In the UK, you can report through Report Remove. Contact the police if anyone is threatening you.
How long does removal take under the TAKE IT DOWN Act?
Covered platforms must remove the image and known identical copies within 48 hours of a valid request, according to the FTC. The requirement applies to real images, altered images and AI-generated deepfakes, and the FTC began enforcing it on 19 May 2026. If a platform misses the deadline or has no removal process, report it to the FTC at TakeItDown.ftc.gov.
Can StopNCII remove an image from a website that is not a partner?
No. StopNCII’s hashes only reach the platforms on its partners page, so a leak forum, an offshore tube site or a private chat group will never see your fingerprint. For those copies, report directly to the site or its host, ask Google and Bing to delist the page, and use the copyright route if the content was made to sell.
