How to file a DMCA takedown for leaked OnlyFans content

A DMCA takedown notice is a formal copyright complaint asking a website to remove a copy of your content. To get leaked OnlyFans content taken down, you send one to the site where the copy is, then to the company hosting that site if it ignores you, and to search engines so the link stops appearing in results. Writing one notice is easy, but doing this by hand rarely keeps up with a leak, so we recommend Fanlock: it finds the copies, files the notices, chases the sites that ignore them and asks search engines to drop the links.

If your content has only just leaked, start with our guide to removing leaked OnlyFans content, which covers the first hour. This post is the detail behind the takedown itself, with a template you can copy.

Why one notice is easy and a leak isn't

Each notice covers one site, and the same set is usually on several sites at once, with search engines picking up the images. When one copy comes down, another appears somewhere new. The work is the repetition: finding every URL, writing to each site, tracing the host when a site doesn't answer, filing with each search engine, then starting again.

A service runs that loop continuously. Fanlock scans for your stage names and your content, files the notices, escalates to the host and the services behind any site that ignores it, and files again when a copy returns. Its free scan needs only your OnlyFans username and any aliases.

OnlyFans also has a takedown team that sends copyright notices for creators free of charge, to sites, hosts, registrars and search engines. Use the Contact Form and choose "Reporting Stolen Content". OnlyFans says itself that not every site complies.

If you only have a few copies to deal with, here's how to do it yourself.

What a DMCA takedown notice is

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is US law. Section 512 shields hosts and search engines from paying damages over what their users post or link to, as long as they meet certain conditions, and one condition is acting on valid takedown notices. That's why most sites have a copyright form, and why the DMCA format is the one most sites recognise.

You can send one because you own what you make. OnlyFans' terms confirm that creators own their content, and fans only get a licence to view it: they don't own it and may not download it. If someone else filmed or photographed you, check what you agreed with them about rights first. You don't need to register your copyright to send a notice.

What a valid notice contains

US law sets out six things a notice must include. Miss one and the site has a reason to ignore it.

1. A signature. Physical or electronic, from you or someone authorised to act for you.
2. The work. Which of your content has been copied. If one site has several of your sets, a representative list is allowed, though naming each is clearer.
3. The copy and where it is. The exact URL of every page, not the site's home page.
4. Your contact details. Enough for the site to reach you, such as an email address, phone number or postal address.
5. A good-faith statement. That you believe in good faith the use isn't authorised by you, your agent or the law.
6. An accuracy statement. That the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you're the owner or authorised to act for them.

Send one notice per site, with every URL listed one per line, and add direct links to the image or video files if you can see them. Link to where you first posted the content. Keep it short and factual, with no threats or insults, and save a copy with the date you sent it.

Only send notices for content you own or are authorised to act for, and leave out your own promo posts and anything you've licensed to someone else. Under US law, anyone who knowingly makes a material false claim in a notice can be liable for the damages, costs and legal fees it causes.

Your notice may not stay private

Assume the uploader may see what you send. US law expects a host to tell the uploader when it removes something, some sites pass the whole notice on, and Cloudflare forwards complaints to the site's operator and its host. Google shares some copyright notices with Lumen, a public research database: never your contact details, but the copyright owner's name and the reported links can appear.

Think about that before you sign with your legal name. The law lets someone authorised to act for you send the notice instead, which is one reason creators hand this job to a service.

Where to send it

Work through these in order, but go to search engines at the same time as the site rather than waiting.

1. The site itself

Look for a DMCA, Copyright, Abuse or Legal page, usually linked in the footer, and use the form or email address it gives. Services that want the DMCA's protection register a designated agent with the US Copyright Office, which keeps a public directory of designated agents.

2. The host, or the service in front of the site

If the site ignores you for a few days, or has no contact at all, go to the company that hosts it. A hosting or WHOIS lookup on the domain usually shows the host and its abuse contact, and many hosts act on valid notices. Send the same notice, adding when you wrote to the site.

Many leak sites sit behind a CDN or proxy service that hides the real host, and Cloudflare is a common one. It says it can't remove content it doesn't host, but its abuse form forwards your complaint to the site's operator and host, and gives the host the site's origin IP address so it can find the content.

3. Search engines

Removing a link from search results doesn't delete the page, but it cuts off the way most people find it. Each search engine needs its own request.

• Google: use its copyright removal form, with a separate notice for each Google product the content appears in. Don't use Google's intimate imagery route for paid content: content you agreed to only qualifies there if it hasn't been sold or otherwise commercialised.
• Bing: its copyright form covers Bing's web, image and video results, and the results Bing provides to Yahoo. For an image it needs both the page address and the image's own address.

Telegram takes copyright complaints about public channels, bots and groups at dmca@telegram.org, and on Reddit you should use the copyright report rather than the intimate media option. Our post on where leaked OnlyFans content appears covers each kind of place and how to find copies there.

A DMCA notice template you can copy

Paste this into an email or a site's copyright form, replace everything in square brackets and delete any lines that don't apply. Send one notice per site.

This is a template, not legal advice. If you receive a counter-notice, a legal threat or a lawsuit, speak to a lawyer who handles copyright.

NOTICE TEMPLATE: replace everything in [square brackets]

Subject: DMCA takedown notice for [SITE NAME]

I am writing under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(17 U.S.C. 512) to report material on your service that
infringes my copyright. Please remove it or disable
access to it.

1. The copyrighted work: [describe it, e.g. "a set of
20 photos"], first published on [DATE] at [LINK TO YOUR
ONLYFANS PROFILE OR THE ORIGINAL POST]

2. The infringing material, at:
[EXACT URL, ONE PER LINE, PLUS ANY DIRECT FILE LINKS]

[OPTIONAL: This uploader has posted my content before,
at [EARLIER URLS]. Please apply your repeat infringer
policy.]

3. Contact details: [NAME OF COPYRIGHT OWNER OR
AUTHORISED AGENT], [EMAIL], [PHONE OR POSTAL ADDRESS]

4. I have a good faith belief that use of the material
in the manner complained of is not authorised by the
copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

5. The information in this notice is accurate, and
under penalty of perjury, I am the copyright owner or
am authorised to act on behalf of the owner of an
exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Signature: [TYPE YOUR FULL NAME]
Date: [DATE]

What happens after you send it

Most sites remove the copy, ignore you or, less often, push back. Keep a log of every URL, where you sent the notice, the date and the reply, so you know when to escalate.

Counter-notices

The uploader can reply with a counter-notice saying the material was removed by mistake. It's a serious step for them: under US law it has to include their name, address and phone number, a statement under penalty of perjury and their consent to the jurisdiction of a US federal court. The host sends you a copy, then puts the material back 10 to 14 business days later unless you tell it you've filed a lawsuit.

If you get one, don't contact the uploader, and speak to a lawyer before you do anything else. In the US, suing over a US work generally needs a copyright registration first, and statutory damages and legal fees need the work registered before the infringement or within 3 months of publication. A lawyer can also tell you whether the Copyright Claims Board, the US small-claims route for copyright, suits your case.

Repeat uploads and sites that won't act

A takedown removes one copy. The same file often comes back on a new page, mirror or account, and every new URL needs its own notice. Hosts relying on the DMCA must have a policy for closing the accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances, so when the same uploader keeps coming back, say so and list the earlier links.

When neither the site nor its host will act, still get the links out of search results: a page nobody can find does far less harm.

This is where most people doing it alone fall behind, and where continuous monitoring matters most. Making leaks less likely in the first place is a separate job, covered in our guide to protecting your OnlyFans content from leaks.

Outside the US: the EU and elsewhere

If a site or platform offers its service in the EU, the Digital Services Act gives you a second route. The European Commission says all online services operating in the EU must comply with it. Hosting services have to offer an electronic form for reporting illegal content, and a notice needs an explanation of why you consider the content illegal, such as your content posted without permission, the exact URL, your name and email address, and a good-faith statement.

If an online platform turns your report down, it has to offer a free internal complaint system, open for at least 6 months after the decision, and you can also go to a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body. If you think a service is breaking the DSA, you can complain to the Digital Services Coordinator in your EU country.

Wherever you live, the notice is a copyright claim, so the template above still applies. For action against a person, local law applies, so ask a lawyer where you live.

When copyright isn't the right tool

Copyright is the route for content you sold. Some situations have routes of their own:

• Images you never sold, and fakes. Google removes intimate images shared without consent, including fakes where you're identifiable, and removes duplicates too. In the US, the TAKE IT DOWN Act requires covered platforms to remove reported non-consensual intimate images, AI fakes included, within 48 hours of a valid request. Agreeing to an image being made, or sending it to one person, isn't consent to publish it.
• Hashing. StopNCII.org creates a digital fingerprint of an intimate image on your own device, without uploading the image, and participating platforms such as OnlyFans, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Reddit look for matches. It only works through the platforms on its partner list.
• Your name or address. If a leak comes with your legal name or where you live, see our post on OnlyFans doxxing.
• Fake accounts. Accounts using your photos and pretending to be you need an impersonation report as well; our post on OnlyFans impersonation walks through it.
• Threats or blackmail. Don't pay, save everything and report it to the police. Our leaked content guide covers the rest.

If you work with us, takedowns are part of our privacy and leak protection: we keep watch for your content, send the takedown requests and follow them up, with a log you can see. And if you'd like help with the rest of your page too, you can apply whenever it suits you.