Removal

Remove, DMCA, or the host: which form fixes which problem

When your photo is on a site you do not run, three different requests can help, and each does a different job. One changes what WhoIsThisFace shows. One is a copyright notice. And only one party can delete the file itself: the site that hosts it. Pick by the problem you have.

The short version

• Remove my data is for the person pictured. It changes what our search results show.
• DMCA notice is for the copyright owner. It also removes links from our results.
• The host is the only one who can take the photo off its page. That is the website or the app it is on.

WhoIsThisFace links to photos that are already public on other websites. We do not host them. That one fact decides what our two forms can and cannot do.

Remove my data

The removal form takes your email and, optionally, the result URLs. If you do not have URLs, you can describe the photo and we look for it. You confirm that you are the person in the photo or are legally authorised to act for them. There is no account and no fee. Requests are processed within 72 hours.

We block the pages you list, and any other results from the same sites, from every search on this service. If you are in the EU or UK, the form also covers your GDPR right to erasure. It does not delete the photo from the website that hosts it, and it does not change what Google Lens, Yandex, or FaceCheck.ID show on their own. One more detail: we keep your email and the request details, and the blocklist entry, indefinitely. That is what makes a removal stick.

DMCA notice

The DMCA page is for a photo you own the copyright to. It collects what 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3) requires, including a statement under penalty of perjury, and valid notices are processed within 72 hours. Knowingly misrepresenting that material is infringing may make you liable for damages, so only file it if you hold the rights.

It has the same limit as the removal form: it removes the links from our results, and to remove the photo from the internet entirely you also have to contact the site that hosts it. If the picture shows your face and you are not the copyright owner, the page itself tells you to use the removal form instead.

The host

If a photo has to go, this is the request that does it. Use the report or takedown route on the site or app where it sits, and give them the URL. I cannot tell you what each platform will accept, because each has its own rules. What I can say is that nothing we do replaces it.

Other face-search engines have their own forms

Removing a photo from our results does not touch another engine's. As of October 19, 2026, PimEyes' privacy policy describes an opt-out that asks for a photo of your face, an anonymised ID scan, and a phone number. A third-party comparison from Protevio lists two opt-out routes for Lenso: a broad opt-out and a single-image form under the EU's Digital Services Act. Forms change, so open each engine's own page before you submit anything.

The order I would use

1. Search your own face so you have the exact URLs. It is free, and the photo is deleted within 15 minutes.
2. Save the URLs and the date before you ask for anything.
3. Report to the host. It is the only request that can delete the file.
4. Send the removal form for our results, with those URLs.
5. File a DMCA notice only if you own the copyright.
6. Optional: monitoring. After you unlock a search, face monitoring re-scans the face daily and emails you only when it appears somewhere new. It keeps one small photo to do that, and deleting the monitor deletes it. It is a paid add-on, so see the pricing page.

Questions people ask

Written by Nikola Marković. Checked against the live site on October 19, 2026.