Platforms that ignore an intimate-image takedown for 48 hours can be reported to the FTC

Forty-eight hours is the clock the TAKE IT DOWN Act starts when a person asks an online platform to remove an intimate photo or video shared without consent. If that time runs out and the platform has neither taken the image down nor replied, the Federal Trade Commission says the person can report the platform at TakeItDown.ftc.gov. The agency spelled out the steps in a consumer alert dated September 23, 2026.

The wording of the alert is narrow and worth reading closely, because the report goes to a regulator, not to the platform and not to a court. The deadline binds the platform. The report is how the FTC finds out the deadline was missed, which matters because nothing in the statute page or the guidance read for this article gives an individual a right to sue a platform over a missed deadline; the enforcing body is the agency.

The 48-hour duty the law puts on platforms

Section 3 of the Act, reproduced on the FTC’s statute page, requires covered platforms to create a process for people to notify them of a nonconsensual intimate visual depiction and to remove the depiction within 48 hours of receiving notice. The trigger is the platform’s receipt of a valid removal request, not the moment an image is posted and not the moment a user complains in a public thread.

The FTC’s compliance guidance for businesses defines covered platforms as websites, apps and online services, such as social media, messaging, image or video sharing and gaming platforms, that primarily provide a forum for user-generated content or regularly publish intimate content. Removal must happen within 48 hours of getting a valid request, and platforms must make reasonable efforts to find and remove known identical copies in the same window, without a separate report for each duplicate. Platforms must also give plain-language information about how their notice and removal process works.

The TakeItDown.ftc.gov report

The September consumer alert, signed by the agency’s Bureau of Consumer Protection staff, addresses the case where 48 hours have passed and the platform has not taken the image down or responded. At that point a person can file a report at TakeItDown.ftc.gov, naming the platform, describing where the image was posted and supplying information about themselves or the affected person.

An earlier FTC consumer alert from May 19 adds that a report can be made on someone else’s behalf with that person’s permission, and it states the rule plainly: platforms must remove the intimate photos or videos, and known identical copies, within 48 hours of the request. For criminal matters involving minors, the same alert points to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI.

The portal does more than take complaints. According to the September alert it also helps people stop an image from spreading, connects them with support organizations and facilitates reporting to law enforcement.

Two failures qualify for a report, according to the May announcement: a platform that does not remove an image it was asked to remove, and a platform with no removal process at all. Both are covered platform obligations under the Act, which is Public Law 119-12, and enforcement began on May 19, 2026, so the September alert came about four months into the agency’s active enforcement period.

Enforcement through an FTC rule, not a private lawsuit

A report is not an order to a platform and it does not guarantee that a specific image comes down. The FTC says it uses reports to help keep platforms accountable for complying with the law. The enforcement mechanism sits in the statute itself: a violation of the notice-and-removal requirement is treated as a violation of an FTC rule, which the agency enforces under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the FTC Act. The agency’s guidance puts civil penalties at $53,088 per violation.

The FTC announced on May 19, 2026 that it had begun enforcing the Act and opened the reporting portal. Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in that announcement that in the age of artificial intelligence anyone can be targeted, and that the situation becomes more appalling when children are involved. The agency’s business blog post, written by Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Christopher Mufarrige, says the agency monitors compliance, investigates violations and takes reports from the public, and covers both real images and digitally altered or created deepfakes.

No FTC page read for this article says how many reports have been filed, how many platforms have been investigated, or whether any penalty has yet been sought. The portal gives victims a way to put a missed deadline in front of the agency, but the published record does not yet show what the agency has done with those reports.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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