What is a takedown?
A takedown is the removal of an infringing or impersonating account, post or page by the platform that hosts it, following a report the platform accepts.
Nobody outside the platform can remove anything. A takedown is always a decision made by the host, against its own policy, on the evidence supplied — which makes the quality and reusability of the evidence pack the thing that determines success rate at volume.
Different routes exist for different claims. An impersonation or authenticity report argues that users are being misled; an intellectual property report cites a registered trade mark, its jurisdiction, the classes and the owner of record. Platforms apply their own judgement to both and neither outcome is guaranteed.
The work after a removal matters as much as the removal. Accounts that are taken down are frequently recreated, so a programme that does not monitor for the same operator returning is counting successes it will pay for twice.
Related terms
- Brand impersonationBrand impersonation is the use of a brand's name, logo or imagery on an account, page or profile that the brand does not own, in a way that presents it as official or affiliated.
- UDRPThe UDRP is the arbitration procedure for recovering a domain name registered in bad faith against a trade mark, run through approved providers such as WIPO rather than through a court.
- Digital risk protectionDigital risk protection is the practice of finding and removing the threats to a brand that sit outside its own network — on social platforms, in app stores, on look-alike domains and across the open web.