Facebook didn't remove the copy

Start by working out what actually happened. “Still up” can mean three different things, and each needs a different fix.

• The report never went in. When you submit, Meta sends “an automated message that contains information about your report, including a unique report number”. No message, in your inbox or spam, usually means no report. File it again and note the date and time.
• Meta asked a question and is waiting. Meta says it “may request additional information about your report”. If that email is sitting unanswered, the report is stalled. Reply to that message directly. Meta says “your response will reach the investigation team”.
• Meta reviewed it and said no. Then you need to know why before you file again. Nothing is gained by sending the same report twice.

Also check the copy yourself. Open the link in a private browser window. A post the uploader deleted, or one that now shows “content isn’t available”, has already gone. Take a dated screenshot either way.

No, not as the person who reported it. Meta’s copyright policy describes an appeal route for the uploader whose content was removed. It tells them: “You’ll receive instructions about how to appeal in the message that we send you.” There’s no equivalent for a rights owner whose report is declined or ignored. Meta also offers no tool to check a report’s status.

That sounds bleak, but it’s useful to know. It means your next step is a better report, not a wait for a review that won’t come. Meta’s own numbers show most copyright reports work: its transparency report records that 83.19% of content reported for copyright in December 2023 was removed. That’s the latest month Meta has published, so it’s a dated figure. Read the other way, about one in six pieces of reported content stayed up.

Meta doesn’t publish a list of rejection reasons. It does publish what it requires, and the gaps usually fall in the same places.

• Ownership isn’t clear. Meta says “Only the copyright owner or their authorised representative may file”. If a company owns your channel and you filed in your own name, or a manager filed without showing authority, fix that.
• The report claims something you don’t own. A title, a news photograph, archive footage or a licensed track mixed in with your real work weakens the whole claim.
• The links don’t reach the copy. Meta needs the post or Reel itself. A link to a Page, a profile, a search or a share preview doesn’t identify the content.
• The description is general. “They keep stealing my videos” names no work and no copy.
• Meta judged the use allowed. Meta weighs copyright exceptions. According to its fair use guidance, a use that adds comment or new meaning is treated differently from a plain repost. A reaction or commentary video that genuinely discusses your work may stay up.
• Several works were lumped together. A report covering many unrelated videos from many accounts is harder to review than one clean report per work.

Before you file again, gather:

• One of your works. Pick one video and deal with every copy of it in this report.
• A direct link to every copy of that work on one platform. Facebook and Instagram copies go in separate reports, because the form asks for one platform.
• The link to your original and its publish date.
• Dated screenshots of each copy, showing the account and the post.
• The right owner’s name. Your full name, or your company’s if it owns the channel. If someone files for you, they need your authority.
• A business email address. Meta regularly gives the uploader your name and email, so don’t use a personal one.
• Your earlier report numbers and the dates you filed.

If you’d like the refiled report drafted for you, the free pack at the top of this page fills in every box of the form, ready for you to paste and submit.

1. 1

   Open the same form

   Use Meta’s intellectual property form. There isn’t a separate appeal form, so a new report is the route.

2. 2

   Choose Copyright and one platform

   Select Copyright under “What right is being violated or infringed?”, then Facebook or Instagram.

3. 3

   Set the owner details correctly

   Under “Where are you asserting rights?” pick your country. Answer “Are you the rights owner?” truthfully. An agent uses “No, but I’m authorised to represent the rights owner”.

4. 4

   Add only what belongs

   Paste the direct link to each copy of this one work, and link your original. Leave out any post that doesn’t use your work.

5. 5

   Describe exactly what you made

   Name the parts that are yours: the footage you shot, your narration, your edit, your thumbnail design. Say what the copy took.

6. 6

   Mention the history, then submit

   Give your earlier report numbers and dates. Read the declaration before you confirm it, then save the new report number.

The difference between a report that fails and one that works is often a single clear paragraph. This is an example to adapt:

I made this video and first published it on my YouTube channel on [date]: [link to your original]. The Reel at [link] re-uploads [length] of it, including my footage and my narration, with new captions added. It adds no commentary on my work. I reported this Reel on [date] (report number [number]) and it is still live. I have not given this account permission to use my work.

Only describe what you own. If your video uses licensed music or someone else’s clip, don’t claim those parts.

Meta publishes no review time, so don’t count days against a promised deadline. Expect a new automated message with a new report number. Meta may write asking for more information. Answer quickly and precisely.

If Meta removes the copy, it will regularly tell the uploader the report number, the rights owner’s name, your email address, the report details and how to appeal. If the uploader’s appeal succeeds, the post can come back. Meta says a restoration after an appeal, or after a rights owner withdraws a report, is taken into account under its repeat infringer policy.

Write to Meta’s designated agent

Meta’s copyright policy lists a formal postal route: Meta Platforms, Inc., FAO: Meta Designated Agent, 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, US, phone +1 650 543 4800. Meta says a notice sent this way must include “a complete copyright claim”, but it doesn’t define what “complete” means. Include everything from your online report, plus every report number and date.

Be realistic about it. Meta calls its online form “the fastest and easiest way” to report, so the designated agent is a parallel legal channel, not a faster lane. Meta also publishes different email addresses for different products. Don’t send your notice to one you’ve seen quoted on a blog.

Deal with the rest of the operation

Copy accounts often point viewers to a website with the same story and your thumbnail. That website has its own host, domain registrar and search listing, each with its own reporting route. Our guide to a website copying your video covers them.

Consider content protection if it keeps happening

If one account keeps taking your catalogue, Meta’s matching tool may be worth applying for. For creators, Meta says Rights Manager in Meta Business Suite “is going away soon” and enrolled creators will use “the content protection tool, located in Professional dashboard on Facebook”. You need a catalogue of wholly original content and a clean record, and rejected applicants wait 7, 21 or 60 days to reapply. Meta says people without access “may report individual infringements through our IP reporting forms”.

This is general information, not legal advice.

• The EU route isn’t yours. Since 25 April 2023, UK users’ service provider has been Meta Platforms, Inc., the US company, not Meta’s Irish company. The EU’s Digital Services Act gives notice-and-action rights inside the EU. It doesn’t apply to UK creators. The UK’s Online Safety Act sets duties that Ofcom enforces. It doesn’t give you a personal takedown right.
• The law is on the side of a clear notice. Under the Electronic Commerce Regulations 2002, a host that stores user content is protected from damages only while it doesn’t know about unlawful material, or if it acts quickly once it does. A precise notice is how that knowledge is shown.
• Fair dealing is narrow in the UK. There’s no general “fair use”. GOV.UK says fair dealing is “a matter of fact, degree and impression”, and weighs whether the use replaces the original and whether the amount taken was necessary. A full re-upload rarely passes either test.
• A letter before claim comes first. Before any court claim, you set out what was copied and what you want, and give the other side a reasonable time to reply. It often settles matters on its own.
• Small claims exist for copyright. The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court’s small claims track suits claims of £10,000 or less. Hearings are short and informal, parties often represent themselves, and the loser seldom pays the winner’s legal costs.
• Get a solicitor when the copier is anonymous and needs identifying through a court order, the losses are larger, you need an urgent injunction, or the other side is represented and disputes your ownership.

One Reel reported twice stayed up while every other report in the same case came down. The reports that worked each named one work clearly, and we had a dated record of every filing to fall back on. When a report fails, rewrite it tighter rather than sending the same words again.