Secretly filmed? Your legal rights and how to get the footage taken down

By Yair Cohen, Solicitor specialising in internet law. Updated 2 October 2026.

This guide is part of our pornography and adult content law section.

If someone filmed you in a private or intimate moment without your knowledge, this article is for you. In most cases it is a crime, it gives you the right to have the footage taken down, and it can give you a claim for compensation. Where the footage is already online, a letter from us to the sites and the people involved usually gets it removed quickly, and court is the fallback for the few who refuse. This article explains what the law says, how we get footage taken down, and what to do first.

Is it a crime to secretly film someone?

Secretly filming someone in a private moment is usually the crime of voyeurism. Under section 67 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, it is an offence to record someone doing a private act, without their consent, so that you or someone else can watch it for sexual gratification. It is also an offence to set up or install a camera for that purpose, even before anything is recorded. The maximum sentence is two years in prison.

A "private act" has a set meaning. Under section 68, it covers someone in a place where they would reasonably expect privacy who is naked or in underwear, using the toilet, or having sex. A bedroom, a bathroom, a changing room or a hotel room will usually count. A camera hidden in any of them is the kind of case the offence was written for.

Two other situations have their own offence. Under section 67A, taking a picture or video up someone's skirt or under their clothing is a crime, and so is filming a woman who is breastfeeding, whether or not she is in public. Both carry up to two years.

Parliament has also passed new offences of taking or recording an intimate image without consent, and of installing equipment to do so, in Schedule 13 to the Crime and Policing Act 2026. They do not depend on proving the filmer's sexual motive. At the time of writing they are not yet in force, so for now these cases are brought as voyeurism.

If the footage has been shared or put online

Sharing the footage is a separate crime, whoever filmed it. Since 31 January 2024, section 66B of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 has made it an offence to share an intimate photograph or video of someone who does not consent to it being shared. Threatening to share it is also an offence. If someone is using the footage to pressure you or demand money, our guide to sexual blackmail explains how we stop that.

The people who share the footage are not always the person who filmed it. A video taken in one place tends to be copied from site to site, sometimes within days. That is why we act on every copy we can find, not only the first one, and why it pays to act early.

How we get the footage taken down

We start with letters, because in most cases they work and they are quick. We write to each site carrying the footage, explain that it was filmed without your consent, and ask for it to be taken down and for the details of whoever uploaded it to be kept. Most adult sites and hosting companies act on a properly framed legal letter, because keeping the footage up exposes them to claims and, in the UK, to the regulator.

At the same time we ask Google to remove the pages from its search results, using its process for removing personal sexual content from Google Search, so the footage stops appearing when someone searches your name. Where the footage is still spreading, we can also use services that create a digital fingerprint of it, so that the platforms taking part block new uploads.

If a site refuses, or the person who filmed you keeps uploading it, we can ask the High Court for an injunction. The order makes them take it down and keep it down, and it can be made against people whose names we do not yet know. Our guide to privacy injunctions to remove a porn video explains how that works. Our guide to getting sexual images and videos of you taken down covers the removal side in more detail.

Compensation and your other rights

Being secretly filmed usually gives you a civil claim as well as a criminal complaint. The main one is misuse of private information, which protects your right to a private life under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998. Footage of you naked or having sex is about as private as information gets, and the courts treat it that way.

Data protection law gives you a second route. Footage of your sex life is a special category of personal data under Article 9 of the UK GDPR. Anyone who publishes it without a lawful basis has to erase it when you ask, under Article 17. Where the filming is part of a pattern of behaviour, it can also be harassment.

These claims let us ask for the footage to be taken down and kept down, for the copies to be handed over or destroyed, and for compensation for the distress it has caused. In many cases the person who filmed you would rather agree to all of that in writing than face a court.

Agreeing to be with someone is not agreeing to be filmed, and agreeing to be filmed is not agreeing to be shared.

Going to the police, and keeping your name private

You can report secret filming to the police, and you do not have to choose between that and getting the footage taken down. We can work on the removal while you decide, and support you if you do report it.

Many people worry that going to the police will make their name public. It will not. Victims of voyeurism and of intimate image sharing have lifelong anonymity under section 1 of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992, which means nothing may be published that is likely to identify you. In a civil claim, we can also ask the court to keep your name out of the case.

Where secret filming tends to happen

The cases we see come from ordinary places. A camera hidden in a holiday let, a rented room or a hotel. A phone left recording in a bedroom by a partner or a date. A device in a changing room or a shared bathroom. A webcam session that a viewer recorded and uploaded without the performer knowing.

If you think you are being filmed now, keep yourself safe first, then keep a note of where and when, and photograph the device where it is if you can do so safely. Do not confront the person or destroy the device, because both can make the case harder to prove.

A case we have handled

A young woman who had tried webcam modelling for a short time found that someone had secretly recorded her private sessions. The recordings were on dozens of adult sites, with her face clearly visible and her username searchable on Google. An anonymous person then found her email and social media accounts and threatened to send the videos to her family and colleagues unless she sent more. She deleted her accounts and stopped working.

Because the sessions were streamed under the platform's terms, she owned the rights in them. We used that, together with her privacy rights, to send takedown notices to every site carrying the footage and to make clear that a High Court injunction would follow if they did not act. The videos came down from more than 30 sites, and once the sites were dealt with the person threatening her went quiet.

Frequently asked questions

Is it illegal to film someone without their consent in the UK?

Not always. Filming people in a public place is not usually a crime. Filming someone naked, in underwear, using the toilet or having sex, in a place where they would expect privacy, is usually voyeurism under section 67 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Sharing it is a separate offence under section 66B.

My partner filmed us having sex without telling me. Is that a crime?

It can be. Recording someone having sex without their consent, so that the recording can be watched for sexual gratification, is voyeurism under section 67, whoever does it. If your partner shares the video, or threatens to, that is an offence under section 66B whether or not you agreed to the filming.

Can the footage be removed if I do not know who uploaded it?

Yes. Sites and search engines can take footage down without knowing who uploaded it. Where we need to find the uploader, we can ask the site to keep their details and, if necessary, ask the court for an order identifying them, or for an injunction against persons unknown.

Will my name become public if I report it to the police?

No. Victims of voyeurism and of intimate image sharing have lifelong anonymity under section 1 of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992, so nothing likely to identify you may be published.

Can I claim compensation?

In many cases, yes. Secret filming is usually a misuse of private information and a breach of data protection law. That can give you a claim for compensation against the person who filmed you and, in some cases, against those who published the footage.

What should I do first?

Write down the web addresses where the footage appears, with dates, and take screenshots of the pages that do not show the footage itself. Do not contact the uploader. Then get legal advice, because the first letters to the sites shape how quickly the footage comes down.