How to Remove Stolen Content from Facebook and Instagram

A reel you spent a week producing has been reposted by a meme page with ten times your following, without credit, with their watermark on top. Or a dropshipper has lifted your product photography and copy into a Facebook Shop. Or a page using your business name and logo is running ads to your customers. All three are common, all three are handled by Meta, and all three use different reporting routes.

Meta operates the largest intellectual-property reporting system of any social platform, but it is spread across several forms, two apps and a rights-management tool, and the in-app "Report" button is rarely the right place to start. Filing in the wrong place is the most frequent reason legitimate reports go nowhere.

This guide explains which Meta form to use for which problem, how to complete each one so it is accepted, what to expect afterward, and how to scale up if you are dealing with repeat offenders.

The three problems and the three routes

Before filing, decide which category your problem falls into, because Meta routes each differently.

Copyright and trademark reports are handled by Meta's IP operations team and follow DMCA-style procedures. Impersonation is a Community Standards matter and uses a different queue. If a single fake account is doing all three, file all three; they are reviewed independently.

Reporting copyright infringement on Facebook and Instagram

Meta's copyright form is the same for both apps and is accessible through the Facebook Help Center under "Intellectual Property" (search "Facebook report copyright infringement form"). You do not need an account to use it.

What you need before you start

• The URL of the original work. This can be your own Instagram post, your website, your YouTube video, or wherever the authentic version was first published. If your original is not online, describe it and be ready to provide a copy on request.
• The exact URL of each infringing post, reel, story highlight, page, profile or Shop listing. On Instagram, open the post in a browser or use "Copy link" from the share menu. On Facebook, click the timestamp of the post to get its permanent URL. Stories expire within 24 hours, so screenshot them and report fast.
• Your contact details, which Meta will share with the reported party. Use a business address and an enforcement email.

Filling out the form

1. Select that you are the rights owner (or an authorized representative) and that you are reporting copyright infringement.
2. Provide your name, organization, email and mailing address.
3. Describe the copyrighted work. Be concrete: "A 38-second product demonstration video filmed by [Company] on 12 March 2026, originally posted at [URL]." For a photo set or a catalog, you can describe the collection and give several representative links.
4. Paste the infringing URLs, one per line. The form accepts multiple URLs per report, so group all posts from the same infringer together.
5. Explain briefly how the content infringes: "The reported reel is a full reproduction of my original video with my on-screen credit cropped out."
6. Confirm the three required statements (good-faith belief, accuracy, and authorization under penalty of perjury) and type your full name as a signature.

After submission you will receive an email with a report number. Keep this; you will need it for follow-ups.

What a good report looks like

Original work: Product photography series "Spring Collection 2026," 14 images, shot by our in-house photographer under an employment agreement, first published on our website at [URL] on 4 April 2026.

Infringing content: Facebook Shop listings at [URL 1], [URL 2], [URL 3], each using images 2, 5 and 9 from the series without authorization and with our logo removed.

I have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

Keep it factual. Do not accuse the other party of anything beyond the infringement, and do not include legal threats; they slow review and are not read by anyone who can act on them.

Reporting trademark infringement

If the issue is a page, Shop or ad using your brand name, logo or a confusingly similar name to sell products, Meta's trademark report is the correct route. The same IP form offers a trademark option.

You will need:

• Your trademark registration number and jurisdiction (USPTO, UKIPO, EUIPO or another national office). Meta generally expects a registration; unregistered rights are much harder to enforce through the form.
• The goods or services your mark covers, so Meta can confirm the reported use falls within them.
• The infringing URLs and a short explanation of the confusion: "The page uses our registered word mark as its name and sells the same category of goods, which is likely to confuse consumers into believing it is our official page."

Counterfeit sales are a sub-category with their own option in the form, and Meta tends to action those quickly when the listing clearly uses your mark on goods you did not make.

For brands with recurring problems, Meta Brand Rights Protection (available through Meta Business Suite to verified businesses with a registered trademark) lets you search for infringing ads, pages, Shops and posts across Facebook and Instagram and report them in bulk from a single dashboard. We cover it in depth in our guide to Meta Brand Rights Protection.

Reporting impersonation

Impersonation reports go through a different path and do not require any IP registration.

• On Instagram: open the fake profile → tap the three dots → Report → "Report account" → "It's pretending to be someone else" → choose "Me," "Someone I know" or "A business or organization I represent."
• On Facebook: open the fake page or profile → three dots → "Find support or report" → "Pretending to be something" or "Fake page."

There is also a web form in the Help Center for reporting an impersonating account when you cannot log in or do not have an account. Meta typically asks for a government ID or business documents for impersonation of a person, and for proof of your business for a brand. For more on the strategic side, see our article on fake accounts impersonating your brand.

Impersonation reports are notoriously inconsistent. A good practice is to file the impersonation report and, in parallel, a copyright report for any stolen profile pictures, logos or posts the fake account is using. The copyright route has clearer rules and a legal process behind it, so it often succeeds even when the impersonation report is initially rejected.

Using Rights Manager for ongoing protection

Meta Rights Manager is Meta's content-matching tool, similar in concept to YouTube's Content ID. You upload reference files (video, audio or images), and Meta scans new uploads across Facebook and Instagram for matches. When it finds one you can set automatic actions: block, monitor, claim ad earnings on Facebook, or apply an attribution link.

To apply, go to Meta Business Suite → Creator Studio or the Rights Manager section → "Apply for access." You will need a Facebook Page, a description of the content you own, and in most cases examples of your original work. Approval is not automatic; Meta assesses whether you have a catalog worth matching.

Once in, upload your most-copied reels and product videos first. Image matching exists but is less precise than video matching, so continue to use manual reports for photography theft.

After you file: statuses, rejections and counter-notifications

Meta's IP team usually responds by email with one of several outcomes:

• Content removed. The post or page is taken down and the account receives a notification naming you as the reporter. Repeat offenders accumulate strikes and can lose their accounts.
• More information needed. Typically a request for proof of ownership, a clearer original link, or a trademark registration number. Reply quickly from the same email thread.
• Not actioned. Reasons include an unclear original, content that Meta considers transformative or non-infringing, or a report filed under the wrong category.

If a report is rejected and you believe the decision is wrong, reply to the email with additional evidence rather than filing a brand-new report. Repeated identical submissions can be flagged as abusive.

If the other party files a counter-notification under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g), Meta will forward it to you and restore the content after roughly 10 to 14 business days unless you confirm that you have filed a lawsuit. Many counter-notifications are filed in confusion; our guide to DMCA counter-notices covers the response options.

A worked example

A skincare brand found its launch reel reposted by three "beauty deals" Instagram accounts, each linking to a different clone Shopify store. The brand first used the in-app Report button on each post, selecting "Scam or fraud," and nothing happened for two weeks.

The brand then filed a single copyright report through the IP form listing all nine reels (three per account), with the original Instagram post and the brand's website as the source. Two accounts had their posts removed within 48 hours; the third received a strike and deleted the remaining posts itself. The brand also filed a trademark report for the account names, which used its registered mark, and all three accounts were disabled within the following week. The clone stores were then reported separately to Shopify.

The lesson: the in-app report button feeds a general moderation queue; the IP form feeds a legal queue with defined procedures and timelines.

Practical tips that save time

• Screenshot before you report. Removed content disappears from your view too, and you may need evidence for a counter-notice or a later legal step.
• Group by infringer, not by post. One report per account with all URLs listed is faster for Meta to process and builds a clearer strike history.
• Use a dedicated enforcement email that you check daily; Meta's follow-up questions have short windows.
• Report ads through the ad itself. For a stolen image used in a paid ad, use the three dots on the ad → "Report ad" → "Intellectual property violation," which routes to the IP team with the ad ID attached.
• Do not DM the infringer first unless you want them to simply re-upload under a new account. File, then message if you want to.

If stolen content on Meta platforms is a weekly problem rather than a one-off, our social media removal service handles filing, follow-up and counter-notice responses, and you pay only for what is successfully removed.

What to do next

Identify which category your problem falls into, gather the original and infringing URLs, and file through the IP form rather than the in-app report button. Screenshot everything first. If you are facing multiple accounts or a counter-notification, send us the links for a free case review and we will map out what can be removed.