To remove infringing material from Reddit, submit a notice through the Reddit DMCA takedown form at reddit.zendesk.com. Reddit’s team reviews the notice against the six requirements in 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3), and if it’s valid, the content comes down and the poster is notified.
The form itself is short. The work is in what you bring to it.
What to Gather Before You Open the Form
Federal law requires six elements in a valid takedown notice, and Reddit’s form mirrors them. Assemble everything first so you’re not scrambling mid-submission or getting sent back for missing information.
- A clear identification of your copyrighted work. A direct URL to where your original is published is best. If several works were infringed on the same page, a representative list is enough.
- The exact Reddit permalinks where the unauthorized copies appear. A link to a subreddit’s homepage won’t do; Reddit needs the specific post, comment, or image URL. Right-click a post title or a comment timestamp to copy its permalink.
- Your contact information: a physical mailing address, an email address, and a phone number.
- Your electronic signature, which on Reddit’s form means your full legal name typed into the signature field.
- A good faith belief statement affirming that you believe the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, an agent, or the law.
- A statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
Only the authority statement carries the perjury penalty. The good faith belief statement is a separate requirement with its own consequences, covered further down.
Filing on Someone Else’s Behalf
If you’re filing as an attorney, licensing agent, or business manager, you do not need to attach a power of attorney or authorization letter to the notice. Your signature and perjury declaration are the proof of authority. You swear you have the right to act; that’s what the statute asks for.
Keep your own records anyway. If the poster challenges the takedown or Reddit asks a follow-up question, an engagement letter, management contract, or email chain showing you were appointed will save you time.
Filling Out the Form Step by Step
Go to reddit.zendesk.com and find the copyright report option, or use the direct link to Reddit’s copyright ticket form. The fields track the statutory elements.
First, select your role. Reddit asks whether you are the copyright owner or an authorized representative. Your answer changes how the perjury statement is framed at the end.
In the field for the original work, paste the URL where your content lives under your control. If the work isn’t online — a physical painting, for instance — describe it in enough detail that someone could tell it apart from unrelated material. Note the medium, the creation date, and any registration numbers you have.
In the infringing content field, paste the Reddit permalinks. If the same image or text was reposted across several subreddits, list every URL. Vague descriptions like “somewhere in r/photography” are the fastest route to a rejection.
Fill in your name, mailing address, email, and phone number. Reddit uses these to reach you if the notice is incomplete, and forwards them to the poster if a counter-notice is filed.
At the bottom, check both boxes:
- The good faith belief affirmation.
- The accuracy and authority affirmation under penalty of perjury.
Type your full legal name in the signature field and submit.
Consider Fair Use Before You Submit
Federal case law requires copyright holders to consider fair use before sending a takedown notice. This isn’t a formality. Skipping it can turn a routine filing into a liability problem.
Fair use covers commentary, criticism, parody, news reporting, and educational use. A Reddit user who posts a screenshot of your article alongside a detailed critique is probably making fair use of it. Someone who reposts your entire photograph without commentary and claims it as their own probably isn’t.
The legal question isn’t whether fair use actually applies. It’s whether you genuinely considered it. Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), a court can find that filing a takedown without honest consideration of fair use is a knowing material misrepresentation, which exposes you to damages and attorney fees owed to the poster, the copyright owner, or the service provider.
What Happens After You Submit
Reddit sends an automated confirmation to the email you provided. Keep it — this is your filing receipt and may carry a reference number for any follow-up.
Reddit doesn’t publish a set processing time. Clean, complete notices tend to move quickly. Notices with missing URLs, vague descriptions of the original, or unclear authority take longer or get returned.
When Reddit approves a takedown, the content is removed and the poster is notified that their material was taken down for a copyright claim. Reddit also shares your contact information with the poster. This is standard under the DMCA.
Why Notices Get Rejected
- The URLs are wrong or too vague. A link to a subreddit homepage makes the reviewer hunt for the content, and they won’t.
- The original work isn’t identified. No link, no description, no registration — no notice.
- One of the two required affirmations isn’t checked. Both are mandatory.
- The signature is missing or isn’t a real legal name. A Reddit username or initials don’t satisfy the requirement.
- The agent role is unclear. If you’re filing as a representative but don’t say who you represent or what right you’re asserting, expect a follow-up or a rejection.
Counter-Notices and Restoration
The poster can push back with a counter-notice. It’s not unusual, especially in gray-area situations involving commentary or parody. A valid counter-notice includes the poster’s signature, identification of the removed material and where it appeared, a statement under penalty of perjury that the removal was a mistake or misidentification, contact information, and consent to federal court jurisdiction and service of process from you.
Once Reddit receives a valid counter-notice, the ball is back in your court. Reddit must restore the content after no fewer than ten and no more than fourteen business days unless you notify Reddit that you’ve filed a lawsuit seeking a court order against the poster. Miss that window and the content goes back up, with Reddit protected from liability for restoring it.
So a takedown isn’t final unless you’re ready to litigate if challenged. For plain infringement — someone reposting your work and claiming credit — counter-notices are rare. For anything that touches commentary or parody, have a litigation plan before you file.
Repeat Infringers
Reddit bans accounts that repeatedly violate its copyright policy, and may ban entire subreddits after multiple removals or where a subreddit exists to share infringing material. Reddit doesn’t publish a specific strike count; the policy uses “in appropriate circumstances” language, leaving discretion with the platform.
If you’re dealing with a serial infringer who keeps reposting from new accounts, file a separate takedown for each instance. Each removal adds to the record Reddit uses when deciding whether to escalate.
The Risk of Filing a Careless Notice
17 U.S.C. § 512(f) makes a knowing material misrepresentation in a takedown notice actionable. Anyone who deliberately claims content is infringing when it isn’t — or who deliberately claims removal was a mistake when it wasn’t — is liable for damages, costs, and attorney fees suffered by the injured party.
“Knowingly” is doing real work in that statute. An honest mistake about whether something infringes is different from filing a takedown to silence someone or suppress content you don’t like. Willful blindness counts as knowledge too. If you suspected the use was fair and chose not to look into it, a court can treat that as knowing misrepresentation.
The practical rule is short. File a takedown only when you actually own the copyright and, after considering fair use, actually believe the use is unauthorized.