How do I report a photo being shared without my consent on Instagram?

Various photos scattered on the floor

Instagram is one of the most popular websites in the world for sharing photos and videos of our lives with others. Among the hundreds of posts and stories our friends share every day, many of them may contain our image.

There is nothing wrong when a friend marks us in a photo from a trip. The problem arises when a stranger usually shares our intimate photos without our consent, presents us in an unfavourable light or infringes copyrights.

After seeing our private photo on Instagram's home page, we certainly want it to disappear from the network in the shortest possible time and not reach all followers, so it is worth taking the following steps in advance:

1. Ask the author to delete

The first action we should take in this case is to send a message to the author asking him to remove the photo. It should be kept in mind that he may not be aware of a breach of our privacy and after receiving such information, he will immediately remove it from the website. This is the easiest and fastest way.

The problem occurs when the author refuses to remove it despite our requests. This is against Instagram's regulations, as well as applicable law. Such a person may be at risk of account blocking, and even criminal consequences depending on the nature of the photo and the degree of violation of our privacy because each person has the right to protect their private life, good name and to decide about their personal life.

If you try to prosecute a given person, it is worth recording the published post, story or conversation history, e.g. by taking a screenshot before they are removed from Instagram, which may be useful in later proceedings.

2. Report breach of the rules

Sharing a private photo without our consent may violate our right to privacy and intellectual property right, so in this case we can use the following forms from the Instagram Help Center. In both cases, we will need a link to the reported content. If it is a post or story, open it and click on the three vertical dots in the top right corner of the screen, select Copy link, then navigate to the form that works best for your situation.

Privacy Breach

  1. Go to the submission form at this address.
  2. Select the type of reported content.
  3. Provide a link to the reported content.
  4. Fill in the required fields, describe how the photo breaches your privacy and click Send.

Copyright infringement

  1. Go to the application form at this address.
  2. Tick I am the owner of the rights.
  3. Fill in the contact information.
  4. Complete the information about the reported content and provide a link to it.
  5. Sign the statement and click Submit.

You must provide your full name when reporting copyright infringement. In addition, the notification of the submission and your information may be forwarded by Instagram to the person who published the reported content.

After submitting the form, a notification of successful creation of the ticket should be sent to your e-mail address. The time it takes to get an answer is very different and depends on the number of reports. It can be one business day or even 2 weeks, so it is recommended to send it as soon as possible.

It may also be helpful to report the photo by our friends on Instagram via the Report option built into the application, which may contribute to the faster disappearance of the photo from the website.