How do I remove stolen videos from adult tube sites?
A tube site stores videos that its users upload. That's the situation section 512(c) is written for: material stored at a user's direction, with the host expected to respond to a valid notice. So a clean notice with exact links is the place to start, and you don't need to know who uploaded it.
What to send
- The address of each video page. A channel page isn't enough, because each upload is its own piece of infringing material.
- A link to where you sold or first posted it, to identify the work.
- The other notice elements: contact details, the good-faith and accuracy statements, your signature.
Look for a DMCA or content removal link in the footer, and check the Copyright Office directory for a registered agent. Protected US-law hosts must also have a policy for terminating repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances, so if one account uploaded many of your videos, say so in the notice.
The consent route
If you're the identifiable person in an intimate video posted without your consent, the TAKE IT DOWN Act gives you a second path, separate from copyright. A covered platform, which includes public services built mainly around user content, has to remove it within 48 hours of a valid request and make reasonable efforts to remove known identical copies. If a platform doesn't comply, the FTC's guidance says to report it at takeitdown.ftc.gov. Whether content you once sold counts is a question for a lawyer: the full guide is here.
StopNCII's partner list includes adult platforms, so a fingerprint can reach those too, where a match breaks their own policy. It's for images from when you were 18 or over.
Embeds and listing pages
Not every page showing your video stores it. A page can embed a player whose file sits somewhere else, and a listing page may only link to the upload. If so, there are two parties to notify: the page, and whoever stores the file. Otherwise the same video can reappear on the next page that embeds it.
Search results
Video results in search are a separate filing: see the Google guide and the Bing guide. Microsoft's form names its video index directly.
DMCA notices to sites and hosts are in both plans, along with filings up the chain when a site ignores them.
Under 18, or the images were taken when you were under 18? Don't send them to anyone, me included. Take It Down, run by NCMEC, works from your own device: your file stays there and only a digital fingerprint is shared with participating platforms.
General information, not legal advice. I'm not a lawyer and Abolita is not a law firm. Checked against the linked sources on 6 November 2026, except the FTC's report page, which wouldn't load beyond a title for my check. The FTC's guidance is what names it.
Quick answers
Do I need to know who uploaded it?
No. A notice identifies your work and the infringing material, not the person. Finding the uploader is a separate legal step, and you don't need it to file.
Is a shortened or re-cut clip still something I can report?
If it copies your work and you can identify the original, you can file a notice in good faith. If you can't tell whether it's yours, leave it out: the notice is a statement you have to stand behind.
Sources
- 17 U.S.C. § 512 (Cornell LII)
- US Copyright Office: DMCA Designated Agent Directory
- TAKE IT DOWN Act, Public Law 119-12
- FTC: complying with the TAKE IT DOWN Act
- FTC report page (wouldn't load beyond a title for my check)
- StopNCII: participating platforms
- StopNCII: how it works
- NCMEC: Take It Down
Related
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