Report illegal content on a social media site or app

The short version

• Report the content using the platform's own reporting tool.
• Social media sites and apps must make it easy to report illegal content. If children are likely to use a site or app, you can also report content that's harmful to children.
• If the platform doesn't act, use its complaints process, then tell Ofcom.
• If the content might be a crime, you can also report it to a specialist reporting service, or call 999 if someone is in immediate danger.

What the law says

The Online Safety Act covers people in the UK who use social media sites and apps, or see content about them, a group they're in, or someone they care for.

The platform must make it easy to report illegal content. On sites and apps that children are likely to use, you can also report content that's harmful to children.

The platform must have systems to take illegal content down quickly once it knows about it. It doesn't have to remove something just because you've reported it.

The platform must also have a complaints process that's easy to find, easy to use (including for children) and clear about how it works. It must take appropriate action when you complain. Its terms of service must explain how it deals with complaints, so check there first.

You can also complain if the platform removes your post or restricts your account because it decides your content is illegal.

If the platform doesn't act

Make a complaint using the platform's complaints process. You can complain if you think:

• content is illegal
• content is harmful to children, if children are likely to use the site or app
• the platform isn't doing what the law says about illegal content or reporting
• the platform isn't doing what the law says about protecting children, if children are likely to use the site or app

If someone has shared an intimate image of you

Report it using the platform's reporting tool and say it's an intimate image of you. Include enough detail for the platform to find it, and your contact details. You'll also need to confirm you're making the report in good faith and that it's true to the best of your knowledge. Someone can also report it for you.

The platform must have systems to take the image down, and any copies it finds, as soon as it reasonably can and within 48 hours of your report. It doesn't have to if it decides the image isn't an intimate image of you, or that the report didn't come from you or someone acting for you.

If you made the report and then complain about the image, the platform must deal with your complaint faster than usual.

If the content might be a crime or cause harm

If someone is in immediate danger, call the police on 999.

As well as telling the platform, you can use these specialist reporting services listed by Ofcom:

• the Internet Watch Foundation, for images or videos of child sexual abuse
• Report Fraud, for fraud and cybercrime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (in Scotland, report it to the police)
• the government's online terrorism reporting service, for content that promotes terrorism
• True Vision, for online hate crime
• Report Harmful Content, for most other types of harmful content

What you can do

1. Report the content using the platform's reporting tool.
2. If the platform doesn't act, or you disagree with its decision, use its complaints process.

If you've reported it to the platform, you can also tell Ofcom about the content or about a reporting tool or complaints process that doesn't work. It can't sort out your complaint, but it uses what people tell it to check whether sites and apps are following the rules.

Contact the Citizens Advice consumer service if you're not sure what to do next. In Scotland, get consumer help from Advice Direct Scotland. In Northern Ireland, contact Consumerline.