Someone Made a Deepfake of Me: What to Do Now
This is not your fault, and there are things that actually work. Below is what to do, in order, depending on what happened. It is free, there is nothing to sign up for, and nobody here is going to ask you to book a case evaluation.
Take the steps in order if you can. If you only have the energy for one thing right now, do the removal step for your situation and come back to the rest later.
If the person shown is under 18, or was under 18 when the image was made
Do not download it, save it, screenshot it, or send it to anyone, not even to a parent, a friend, or a lawyer to prove it exists. Sexual images of a minor are illegal to possess or pass on, and that stays true when the minor is you and when the image is fake. This is the one situation where the usual advice to gather evidence is the wrong advice.
Use Take It Down, the free service from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It works for anyone whose image was made when they were under 18, including adults reporting something from years ago. It creates a digital fingerprint of the file on your own device and sends only that fingerprint, so the image itself never leaves your phone or computer. Participating platforms use it to find and remove copies.
A parent, school counsellor or trusted adult can do this with you. If someone is threatening to share the images unless you pay or send more, that is sextortion, it is a crime, and it is the version of this that most urgently needs an adult and a police report. Paying almost never stops it.
If you are an adult
1. Capture the evidence first
Reporting usually deletes the thing you would later need to prove. Before you report, capture the post itself, the account name and profile page, the full URL, and the date and time you saw it. Include anything showing reach, such as view or share counts, and any messages the poster sent you. Keep it somewhere private that is not your phone camera roll.
2. Use the removal route built for this
If the content is intimate or sexual, use StopNCII.org. It is free, it is for adults, and it works the same protective way: the fingerprint of the image is created on your own device and only that fingerprint is shared with participating platforms, so you are never uploading the image to a stranger. It works for AI generated images as well as real ones.
If the content is not sexual, report it on the platform under impersonation, synthetic or manipulated media, rather than as ordinary abuse. Most large platforms now treat that as its own category, and the right category is the difference between a fast removal and a form letter. Report from your own account, and report the account as well as the post.
3. Decide about a police report
Worth doing when the content is sexual, when a minor is involved, when it is part of stalking or harassment, when someone is using it to extort you, or when you may want to bring a claim later. The report creates a dated record even if nothing happens immediately. Bring your evidence organised, and bring the name of your state law if your state has one. Ask for the report number before you leave.
4. Tell the people it might reach
This is the step people skip and later wish they had not. A short, factual message to your employer, your school or your close circle, ahead of the content reaching them, changes who controls the story. It does not need detail. That images circulating are fabricated, that you have reported them, and that you will share nothing further is enough.
If you are not safe right now
If the person doing this has access to you, or you are frightened of them, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233, free and available at any hour. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. If you are having thoughts of harming yourself, call or text 988 in the United States for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This kind of violation is a real harm, and reaching for help over it is proportionate, not dramatic.
What the law where you live may give you
Twenty one states have passed laws addressing synthetic media, and several address non consensual intimate depictions directly, including Florida, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. Others cover election related synthetic media only, which will not help here. The protection you have depends on your state and on what the content shows.
Our 50-State AI Law Atlas lists every state AI law with its citation, effective date and the date we last checked it, so you can look up your own state rather than read a general answer. It is free and it does not ask who you are.
Questions people ask at this point
Someone made a deepfake of me. What do I do first?
If the image or video is sexual and you were under 18 when it was made, do not download, save or forward it, and use NCMEC's Take It Down service at takeitdown.ncmec.org, which creates a digital fingerprint on your own device so the file never leaves it. If you are an adult, take dated screenshots of the post, the account and the URL before reporting, because reporting often removes the evidence, then use StopNCII.org for intimate images or the platform's own reporting route for anything else.
How do I get a deepfake taken down?
For intimate images of an adult, StopNCII.org creates a hash of the image on your own device and shares only that hash with participating platforms so they can detect and block it. For anyone whose image was taken before they turned 18, NCMEC's Take It Down does the same thing. For non sexual deepfakes, use the platform's impersonation or synthetic media report, which most major platforms now have as a separate category from ordinary abuse.
Should I screenshot the deepfake before reporting it?
If you are an adult and the content is not sexual imagery of a minor, yes. Capture the post, the account name and profile, the URL, and the date and time, because a successful report usually deletes the evidence you would later need. If the content is sexual and depicts a minor, including you as a minor, do not save or send it to anyone. Report it instead, because possessing or forwarding that material is a crime regardless of who is in it.
Is making a deepfake of someone illegal?
It depends on your state and on what the deepfake shows. Twenty one states have laws specifically addressing synthetic media, and several cover non consensual intimate depictions directly, including Florida, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. Election related synthetic media is covered separately in some states. Our 50-State AI Law Atlas lists what each state has passed, with citations and dates, so you can see your own state rather than a general answer.
Should I go to the police about a deepfake?
A police report is worth making when the content is sexual, when a minor is involved, when it is part of stalking or harassment, when it is being used to extort you, or when you intend to pursue a legal claim later, because the report creates a dated record. Ask for a copy or the report number. Officers vary a great deal in familiarity with these laws, so bring your evidence organised and bring the name of your state's statute if it has one.
Can I tell if an image is AI generated just by looking?
Increasingly no, and anyone who tells you there is a reliable visual tell is behind the technology. Hands, text and ears stopped being dependable giveaways some time ago. What still works is provenance rather than inspection: where did the file come from, does a reverse image search find an original, does the file carry content credentials, and can you reach the person supposedly in it through a channel you already trust.
This page is information, not legal advice, and it cannot account for your situation. The services named here are independent of GAGE and we receive nothing from them. Links and numbers were verified on 22 August 2026; if you find one that has changed, tell us and we will fix it the same day. If you want to understand how this technology works well enough to spot the next one, our free instruments are open to anyone, with no account.