How do I opt out of facial recognition? The answer depends on which system you mean. An opt-out can limit a particular company’s search or processing, but it does not automatically erase the photo from the website hosting it, remove it from other services, or reverse uses that have already happened.
What does “remove my face” mean?
“Remove my face” can describe three different goals: hiding matches in one provider’s index, removing the original photo from the site where it appears, or making images harder to use for training future recognition models. Those goals require different actions; none of the options below is a web-wide deletion switch.
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- Suppress a result: Ask the service that returned it to block or exclude your face within its system.
- Remove the source photo: Contact the website that hosts the image. A search service generally cannot make that decision for the host.
- Limit future training: Consider image-cloaking software before sharing images, while recognizing that it is not a way to undo indexing or training that has already occurred.
How the options compare
| Option | Where it applies | What it asks or requires | Stated action and key limit | Evidence and uncertainty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PimEyes opt-out | PimEyes’ own face-search index of images on publicly accessible websites that allow indexing; the company says it excludes social media and professional networks. | A clear face photo, an anonymized image of a government-issued ID, and an email address, according to PimEyes’ help article. | PimEyes says a successful request excludes the face from its search results. It does not remove the image from the source website. | Provider statements in PimEyes’ Privacy & Ethics page and help article; not an independent test. |
| Clearview AI privacy request | Clearview’s systems, with routes and eligibility that vary by jurisdiction. | Eligibility depends on the applicable route and location; check the current company page for requirements. | For Illinois residents, Clearview describes blocking Illinois-associated biometric information from future app searches while retaining it as long as required for legal information-preservation obligations. | Provider statements on Clearview AI’s privacy page; the Illinois route is not a general US-wide opt-out. |
| Fawkes image cloaking | Images processed locally before they are shared or enter relevant training data—not a particular search index. | Use the software to alter images before sharing. It is not an opt-out request and does not remove already-indexed results. | Its authors describe pixel-level “cloaks” intended to disrupt recognition models trained on those images. | Research paper published in 2020; reported results apply to the paper’s experimental conditions, not all systems. |
How do I remove my face from PimEyes search results?
PimEyes says it searches facial images on publicly accessible websites that permit indexing, and that its results link to external sites rather than displaying content it hosts or controls. It says its search excludes social media and professional networks. See PimEyes’ Privacy & Ethics page for the company’s explanation of its scope.
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PimEyes says an uploaded search photo is held temporarily for no more than 48 hours and then automatically deleted. That is the company’s policy statement, not an independent audit finding; its Privacy & Ethics page describes the claim.
What the PimEyes opt-out does not do
PimEyes explicitly says that an opt-out from its search results does not remove the image from the website where it appears. As the company puts it, “PimEyes does not automatically remove images from the internet.” If you want the source photo taken down, contact the website hosting it or use an appropriate separate removal process. Whether the host acts depends on its policies and the law that applies to it. The distinction is described in PimEyes’ Privacy & Ethics page and its removal article.
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What can Clearview AI’s privacy routes do?
Clearview AI’s published process is not one universal opt-out for everyone. Its privacy page describes an automated form for Illinois residents: the company says Illinois-associated biometric information will be blocked from future searches through its app, but retained for as long as required by legal information-preservation obligations. Blocking future searches should not be read as deletion of every record.
The same page lists access, deletion or opt-out, do-not-sell, correction, profiling opt-out, and appeal routes for residents of several named states. Check Clearview AI’s current Privacy & Requests page for the route and eligibility that apply to you; do not assume an Illinois process or another state-specific route is available nationwide.
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What does Fawkes do—and what can it not do?
Fawkes is software, not a service request form. Its authors describe a tool that applies pixel-level “cloaks” locally to images, with the aim of affecting recognition models trained on those images. For that approach to matter, the altered images must be used in the relevant training data. Fawkes does not ask a search service to remove results that are already indexed. The method is described in the authors’ 2020 Fawkes paper and project page.
The paper’s authors reported 95%+ protection in specified experiments and 80%+ protection in an experiment where some uncloaked images were available to the tracker. These are results from the authors’ 2020 evaluations under their test conditions—not guarantees for current commercial services, every model, or photos already processed elsewhere. The reported figures and their experimental context are in the Fawkes paper.
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Which step should you take?
- Identify the service showing the result. An opt-out from one index does not automatically apply to another service.
- Check that service’s current request route and scope. Confirm who is eligible, what the service says it will block or change, and what evidence it asks you to submit.
- Decide whether the requested proof is acceptable. For example, PimEyes says its request requires a face image and an anonymized government-issued ID image.
- Contact the source website separately if you want the photo removed. Give the host the relevant page or image location and follow its own removal process.
- Treat image cloaking as a forward-looking measure, not cleanup. Fawkes is aimed at images entering relevant training data, and its published efficacy results come from 2020 experiments.
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