Some of the routes that get images taken down can only be used by the person in them, or by someone they have authorised. This page explains what you would be agreeing to, and gives you the words to send. Take your time — nothing happens until you say so.
What your permission lets us do
- Ask Google and Bing to remove the pages from search results, so your name stops bringing them up. This is usually the change people feel most, and it does not depend on the website agreeing to anything.
- Send formal legal notices to the website, to the company hosting it and to the company that registered its address, requiring removal.
- Follow it up — chase the ones who ignore us, and check whether the pages actually come down.
What we will never do
- We never ask you for the images, and we never download, store or look at them. Please don't send us any.
- We will never ask you for ID. If any website asks you to upload identification to have images removed, do not do it — that is a trap, and no legitimate process needs it.
- We will never charge you, and we will never pass your contact details to the website or anyone running it.
- We only act on what you have agreed to, and you can withdraw your permission at any time by telling us — no reason needed.
The wording
Reply to us with this, filling in your name and the website address. An email or a message is fine — it just needs to be from you, in writing.
I, [your full name], am the person shown in the images at [the website or page address]. I authorise Alex Wells and the Machaira Project to act on my behalf to report this content and request its removal — including to the website itself, to its hosting and domain providers, and to search engines such as Google and Bing. I did not consent to these images being published.
And one question, in the same reply. If you took the photographs yourself — a selfie, or anything you photographed — then you own the copyright in them. That matters more than it sounds: websites and file hosts routinely ignore reports about consent, but act on copyright quickly, because it carries legal obligations they cannot brush off. It is the route that has removed pages fastest so far.
Did you take these photographs yourself? A yes or no is enough — you do not have to explain.
If someone else took them you have lost nothing — there are other routes, and we will use them. We ask plainly rather than putting it in the statement above because a copyright claim is a sworn legal document, and it has to be true.
Checking we are who we say we are
You should be sceptical of an unexpected message about this — it looks exactly like the sort of thing a scammer sends, and being cautious is the right instinct. Everything we would suggest can be checked without us, and these organisations are independent of us:
- StopNCII.org — run by the Revenge Porn Helpline. Blocks your images across the major platforms from a fingerprint made on your own phone; the images never leave it.
- Revenge Porn Helpline (UK) and CCRI (US) — free, confidential, and they do this every day. You do not need us to use them.
You can reach us at alex@machairaproject.org, and the main page explains what we do and what we hold.