20 mins read
Introduction
Adult platforms are among the highest-traffic destinations on the internet, and they are also among the hardest places to get personal content removed. A single upload can be mirrored across dozens of tube sites within hours, indexed by search engines within days, and scraped into aggregators that have no discoverable owner at all.
This report does two things. First, it maps where the traffic actually sits, because removal effort should be prioritized by exposure, not by alphabetical order. Second, it sets out the removal mechanisms that exist in 2026, in the order you should use them, including the new federal deadline that changed the calculus in the United States this year.
If you are dealing with intimate images shared without your consent, you are not asking for a favor. As of May 2026 you are exercising a statutory right, and platforms that ignore you are exposed to federal penalties.
If you need professional help with a difficult removal, submit the URLs through deleteme Custom Removals. The service reviews complex websites and may use direct takedown requests, privacy arguments, negotiations, terms-of-service complaints, or legal escalation. Removal cannot be guaranteed, and timing depends on the website and the facts of the case.
Part 1: Where the Traffic Is
Most-visited adult websites worldwide, June 2026
The table below is drawn from Semrush Traffic Analytics, which builds its estimates from clickstream data covering roughly 200 million anonymized users. Figures are monthly visits, not unique visitors. A visit is a single session, so a single person can account for many.
Traffic Table
Rank | Domain | Monthly visits | Mobile share | YoY change | Primary traffic source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pornhub | 3.71B | 90.47% | Down 14.67% | Direct |
2 | XVideos | 2.31B | 90.55% | Down 12.54% | Direct |
3 | xHamster | 1.63B | 86.91% | Up 23.91% | Direct |
4 | XNXX | 1.06B | 91.22% | Down 6.95% | Direct |
5 | OnlyFans | 381.06M | 82.83% | Down 13.39% | Direct |
6 | ThePornDude | 215.66M | 86.54% | Up 16.04% | Search |
7 | Patreon | 207.85M | 59.19% | Up 9.18% | Direct |
8 | XVideos.es | 187.29M | 95.03% | Up 49.83% | Search |
9 | DeviantArt | 168.96M | 76.73% | Up 4.22% | Direct |
10 | xHamsterLive | 139.9M | 80.21% | Down 1.91% | Direct |
11 | Qorno | 118.3M | 94.71% | Up 37.83% | Search |
12 | FPO.xxx | 117.86M | 85.37% | Up 29.74% | Search |
13 | PornPics | 116.47M | 82.01% | Up 11.38% | Search |
14 | RedTube | 102.3M | 89.16% | Down 5.59% | Search |
15 | Beeg | 94.08M | 84.7% | Up 56.74% | Search |
16 | TKTube | 93.57M | 84.17% | Up 27.54% | Direct |
Source: Semrush Trending Websites, Adult category, worldwide, June 2026 data.
Note that Semrush’s category classification is broad. Patreon and DeviantArt appear because a meaningful share of their traffic is adult-adjacent, not because they are adult platforms in the ordinary sense. Their removal processes are nonetheless relevant and are covered below.
For US-specific context, Pornhub leads the domestic market with 772.9M monthly visits as of June 2026, followed by XVideos at 693.51M and XNXX at 406.32M.
The three findings that matter for removal strategy
Consolidation is high.
The top four domains account for roughly 8.7 billion monthly visits between them. Four takedown workflows cover the overwhelming majority of realistic exposure. Prioritize accordingly.
Search-led sites are the reinfection vector.
Notice which sites in the table are search-led rather than direct-led: ThePornDude, XVideos.es, Qorno, FPO.xxx, PornPics, RedTube, Beeg. These are the domains that scrape, mirror, and re-host content from the majors, and they exist because search traffic finds them. Removing content from Pornhub without also de-indexing at the search layer leaves the mirror ecosystem fully intact.
Traffic is overwhelmingly mobile.
Every major platform sits between 82 and 95 percent mobile. If a removal request form is broken on mobile, most people who need it cannot file. Where a platform’s form fails on a phone, use a desktop browser before concluding the process does not exist.
Corporate ownership map
Removal requests go to companies, not to domains. Sending one well-constructed request to the right corporate entity can clear multiple properties at once.
Operating entity | Jurisdiction | Properties commonly attributed |
|---|---|---|
Aylo (Aylo Freesites Ltd for tube properties) | Cyprus and Canada | Pornhub, RedTube, YouPorn, Tube8, plus paid studio brands |
WGCZ Holding | Czech Republic | XVideos, XVideos.es, XNXX and associated country domains |
Hammy Media Ltd | Cyprus | xHamster, xHamsterLive |
Fenix International Ltd | United Kingdom | OnlyFans |
Multi Media LLC | United States | Chaturbate |
Ownership attributions here reflect publicly reported corporate structures. Verify current entity details before sending formal legal correspondence, as holding structures in this sector change frequently.
Part 2: The Legal Framework in 2026
The TAKE IT DOWN Act, now enforceable
This is the single most important change for anyone filing a removal request from the United States.
The TAKE IT DOWN Act was signed on 19 May 2025. Its criminal provisions took effect immediately; platform obligations came with a one-year runway. That runway expired on 19 May 2026, and the Federal Trade Commission began enforcement on that date.
What covered platforms must now do:
Maintain a notice-and-removal process for non-consensual intimate imagery, with clear and conspicuous notice of that process in plain language.
Remove content within 48 hours of receiving a valid request.
Make reasonable efforts to identify and remove known identical copies.
Comply whether the imagery is authentic or an AI-generated deepfake.
Enforcement carries civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation. The FTC has stated it intends to enforce vigorously and has published guidance for businesses on compliance.
Critically for victims, the FTC operates a public complaint portal at TakeItDown.ftc.gov, where individuals can report platforms that failed to act on a valid removal request. This gives you a regulatory escalation path that did not exist eighteen months ago.
What makes a request “valid” under the Act
Your submission must include four elements:
A physical or electronic signature
Sufficient information to locate the imagery
A brief statement of your good-faith belief that the depiction was not consensual
Your contact information
Include all four explicitly, even when a platform’s web form does not ask for them. A request that satisfies the statute starts the 48-hour clock; a request that does not may not.
The Act also gives platforms a safe harbor for good-faith removals, which means the legal incentive now runs toward removing rather than adjudicating. Use that. Civil liberties organizations including the Cato Institute and the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative have raised concerns that the same design creates over-removal risk with limited safeguards against malicious complaints, and that criticism is worth acknowledging in any balanced treatment of the law.
The EU Digital Services Act
Every hosting provider serving EU users must operate an Article 16 notice-and-action mechanism. Several major adult platforms have been designated Very Large Online Platforms, which subjects them to heightened obligations including systemic risk assessment and independent audit.
Two practical consequences:
Article 16 gives EU-based requesters a statutory notice channel independent of the platform’s own goodwill.
Article 21 provides access to certified out-of-court dispute settlement bodies when a platform rejects your notice.
Aylo also carried out a large-scale purge of unverified content in mid-2025 in connection with DSA compliance, which materially changed what remains hosted on its tube properties.
The UK Online Safety Act
The OSA requires in-scope services to protect users from illegal content, including intimate image abuse, and has driven age assurance requirements that reshaped UK access to major platforms during 2025 and 2026. Ofcom is the regulator and accepts complaints about non-compliant services.
DMCA and Copyright
If you took the photograph or shot the video yourself, you hold the copyright. This matters enormously in practice, because copyright takedowns run on well-established rails that even uncooperative hosts respond to, and they reach the hosting provider and CDN layer, not just the site operator.
Copyright is often the faster lever on smaller mirror sites, which frequently have a functioning DMCA agent because their ad networks demand one, while having no meaningful privacy or NCII process at all.
US State Law
State NCII statutes remain fully available and are not preempted. Several states, including New York, provide private rights of action covering both authentic and synthetic imagery, which can support civil claims and injunctive relief that federal law does not.
AI-generated Sexual Images or Deepfakes
Use the platform’s impersonation, privacy, non-consensual content, or illegal-content form. State clearly that the image or video is fabricated. Include the exact URLs, explain how the content uses your likeness, and provide ordinary identity evidence only when the platform requires it through a secure process.
Part 3: Before You File Anything
Do these five things first. Skipping them is the most common reason removal efforts stall.
1. Preserve evidence
Capture full-page screenshots showing the URL, the timestamp, the upload date, the uploader’s account name, and the view count. Save the exact URLs in a plain text file.
Do this before you file, because content sometimes disappears from view without being genuinely deleted, and you will need proof it existed.
2. Do not contact the uploader
Direct contact frequently escalates the situation, alerts the person to mirror the content further, and can compromise later legal action.
3. Map the full spread
Use reverse image search and search your own name plus relevant terms to find mirrors before you start.
Removing the primary copy first sometimes causes mirrors to rank higher. Knowing the full footprint lets you file in parallel rather than sequentially.
4. Decide your legal basis
Non-consensual intimate imagery, copyright infringement, or both.
The basis determines which form you use and which deadline applies. If you own the copyright, assert both.
5. Set up a dedicated email address
Removal correspondence generates a large volume of mail and sometimes ends up in the hands of contractors.
Keep it separate from your primary account.
Part 4: Platform-Specific Removal Instructions
Aylo properties: Pornhub, RedTube, YouPorn, Tube8
Aylo operates the most developed removal infrastructure in the sector, largely as a consequence of litigation and regulatory pressure.
How to file
Use the Content Removal Request form, linked from the footer of each Aylo property. Do not use the generic support contact; it routes elsewhere and adds delay.
What to include
The exact URLs
A statement that you appear in the content and did not consent to its upload
Your contact information
A signature
Aylo requires identity verification for removal requests, typically a government ID and a selfie, so that it can confirm you are the person depicted. This verification is standard and is the mechanism that makes the process work.
What happens next
Content flagged for removal is disabled from viewing while it is investigated.
Aylo publishes removal request volumes in its transparency reporting; the platform received 4,612 content removal requests in the first half of 2025.
Additional levers specific to Aylo
Since November 2025, co-performers receive email notification when they are tagged in an upload, and are directed to the Content Removal Request form if they did not consent.
Since April 2026, models must refresh co-performer consent documentation, and from May 2026 updated consent forms are required for co-performers in future uploads.
Aylo participates in hash-matching programs, so a removal here can propagate.
Realistic timeline
Days for straightforward verified cases.
Assert the 48-hour statutory deadline explicitly if you are in the United States.
XVideos, XVideos.es, XNXX
These sit under WGCZ Holding, a Czech entity. The removal process is considerably thinner than Aylo’s.
How to file
Use the content removal or abuse form linked in the site footer.
XVideos and XNXX operate separate forms despite common ownership; file with both, and file separately for country-code variants such as the Spanish-language domain, which carries its own substantial traffic.
What to include
URLs
A non-consent statement
Identification
An explicit citation of the applicable legal basis
Because the operator is EU-established, cite DSA Article 16 for EU requesters.
For US requesters, cite the TAKE IT DOWN Act and the 48-hour deadline directly in the body of the request.
Common failure mode
Requests submitted without a stated legal basis are frequently treated as general feedback and go unanswered.
Frame every submission as a formal legal notice.
Realistic timeline
Days to several weeks.
Follow up in writing at day three and day seven, and preserve the correspondence.
xHamster and xHamsterLive
Operated by Hammy Media Ltd, a Cyprus entity. xHamster runs a content removal form and a separate abuse channel.
How to file
Use the content removal form for imagery of yourself.
Use the DMCA channel in parallel if you hold the copyright, since these are usually handled by different teams with different response times.
Note on xHamsterLive
Live-streaming content and recorded clips may be handled under a different policy than the main tube site.
File separately for each domain rather than assuming one request covers both.
OnlyFans
Operated by Fenix International Ltd in the United Kingdom, and the most responsive major platform in this list, in part because leaked OnlyFans material is usually both an NCII matter and a clear copyright infringement.
Two distinct scenarios
Your content was leaked off OnlyFans onto other sites
You are the copyright holder.
File DMCA notices against:
The hosting sites
Their hosting providers
Search engines
OnlyFans provides DMCA support tooling to creators; use it.
Someone posted content of you to OnlyFans without consent
Use the platform’s report and takedown channels, citing non-consent.
OnlyFans participates in StopNCII hash-matching, so submitting hashes provides forward protection as well.
Cam platforms: Chaturbate, Stripchat, BongaCams, xHamsterLive
Live platforms present a specific problem: the live stream ends, but recordings persist and get redistributed. Removal at the source platform does not address the clip sites.
Approach
File with the platform’s DMCA and abuse channels, then treat the clip and mirror sites as a separate campaign.
For cam performers, copyright is almost always the strongest and fastest basis.
Aggregators, mirrors, and clone tubes
This category includes the search-led domains in the traffic table and hundreds of smaller sites. They are where most of the long-tail damage lives.
Escalation ladder, in order
Site’s own abuse or DMCA contact. Often present, sometimes functional.
Hosting provider. Identify the host via a WHOIS or hosting lookup and send an abuse notice. Hosts respond to legal exposure even when their customers do not.
CDN provider. If the site is behind a CDN, the CDN’s abuse process will typically forward the complaint to the origin host and may disclose it.
Domain registrar. Registrars have terms of service that illegal content violates.
Ad network and payment processor. Mirror sites exist for advertising revenue. A complaint to the ad network is frequently more effective than a complaint to the site.
Search de-indexing. Covered in Part 5. This does not remove the content, but it removes most of the harm.
If no contact information exists at all, or the site is hosted in a jurisdiction that ignores notices, this is the point at which self-service ends. See Part 6.
Patreon and DeviantArt
Both appear in the adult traffic rankings and both operate conventional trust-and-safety and DMCA processes.
File through their standard reporting channels, citing:
Non-consent
Copyright
Or both
Response times are generally consistent with mainstream platforms.
Part 5: Ecosystem-Level Removals
These operate across platforms rather than site by site, and should be run in parallel with the platform filings above, not afterward.
StopNCII.org
Operated by the Revenge Porn Helpline, part of the UK charity SWGfL. This is the single highest-leverage tool available to adults dealing with intimate image abuse, and it is free.
How it works
The hash, a digital fingerprint of your image or video, is generated locally on your own device. The image itself never leaves your device and is never uploaded or seen by anyone.
Only the hash is shared with participating companies, which then detect and remove matching content on their platforms and block future uploads of the same material.
Eligibility
You must:
Be the person depicted.
Have been 18 or older when the image was taken.
Be over 18 now.
Still have the file.
The content must show you nude, semi-nude, or in a sexual act.
AI-generated and deepfake imagery of you is explicitly included in the definition and can be hashed.
Participating platforms include Facebook, Instagram, OnlyFans, and Google, with new partners added over time.
Hashes are shared with new partners as they join, so submitting once provides forward coverage.
Important limitations
StopNCII cannot remove content from the whole internet, only from participating platforms.
It also cannot help if you no longer possess the file.
If you only have screenshots, crop them as tightly as possible and submit anyway, though this may not protect against a video being shared.
Practical steps
Record your case number and PIN at submission.
Neither is recoverable if lost, and without them you cannot check status or withdraw your case later.
You can delete the source image from your device after hashing; the hash persists.
Scale
By late 2025 the tool was protecting approximately 2 million images across more than 785,000 cases globally.
The Revenge Porn Helpline reports an over 90 percent removal rate and has removed more than 300,000 individual non-consensual intimate images.
Take It Down (NCMEC)
If the person depicted was under 18 when the content was created, this is the correct tool and it should be used immediately.
It operates on the same device-side hashing principle.
This is not a matter of preference between services; content involving minors requires the child-specific channel and, in most jurisdictions, a report to law enforcement.
Google Search removal
Content removal and search de-indexing are separate problems.
De-indexing is faster and often does more to reduce real-world harm.
Google substantially simplified this in February 2026.
To file
Sign in to your Google Account.
Open the image in Google Images and click the three-dot menu.
Select Remove result, then It shows a sexual image of me.
Specify whether the image is authentic or an AI-generated fake using your likeness.
Submit multiple images in a single request rather than filing one at a time.
Two features worth using deliberately
First, you can opt in to proactive filtering, which automatically removes similar explicit results from future searches on related queries.
Second, requests are tracked in the Results about you hub, which also now covers removal of driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, and Social Security numbers from search results.
Google is a StopNCII partner, so hash submission and search removal reinforce each other.
Be aware of one documented exception: removal may not apply where the requester is actively commercializing the same explicit images.
Bing and other engines operate parallel content removal request processes.
File with each separately; there is no reciprocal arrangement between search engines.
DMCA notices to search engines and hosts
Where you own the copyright, DMCA notices sent to search engines cause de-indexing, and notices sent to hosting providers cause takedown at the source.
Both are worth filing.
Keep the notices technically correct:
Identify the copyrighted work.
Identify the infringing URL precisely.
Include the statutory good-faith and accuracy statements.
Sign them.
Part 6: When the Platform’s Process Does Not Work
Self-service removal fails in identifiable, predictable situations.
Recognizing them early saves weeks.
The situations where escalation is required
The site publishes no working abuse, privacy, or DMCA contact.
The form exists but submissions are never acknowledged, and follow-ups at day three and day seven produce nothing.
The site is hosted in a jurisdiction that does not respond to standard notices.
Content is removed and reappears within days under new URLs or on mirror domains.
The operator responds by demanding payment for removal, which is extortion and should also be reported to law enforcement.
The content is spread across dozens of small sites and filing individually is not realistic.
The material has been re-uploaded so many times that you have lost track of the full footprint.
You need the source content removed, not merely de-indexed, and the site will not engage.
Regulatory escalation first, where available
Before paying for anything, exhaust the free regulatory routes.
US requesters whose valid TAKE IT DOWN Act request was ignored should file at TakeItDown.ftc.gov.
EU requesters should use DSA Article 21 out-of-court dispute settlement.
UK requesters can complain to Ofcom.
These cost nothing and, in the case of the FTC portal, carry real enforcement weight.
Professional custom removal
Where regulatory routes are exhausted or unavailable, and where the volume or hostility of the sites makes self-service impractical, a specialist removal service becomes the practical option.
deleteme.com Custom Removals handles removal requests from complex and uncooperative websites.
The service targets the source website hosting the content rather than only suppressing the search result, on the basis that removing a search result hides the link while leaving the material available to be re-indexed or reshared.
Their stated approach combines:
Direct takedown requests
Negotiation with site owners
Privacy and defamation arguments
Terms-of-service violations
Legal escalation where necessary
The service covers a broad range of site categories, including mugshot sites, people-search and data broker platforms, gossip and complaint sites, blogs, forums, and other pages publishing sensitive or privacy-invasive information.
What you will need to provide
The URLs where the content appears.
Screenshots or copies of the content.
A brief explanation of why it is harmful or inaccurate.
Any supporting documentation such as identification, court orders, or legal documents.
How it works commercially
Submit the request and receive a quotation before committing.
Custom removals are billed as a one-time fee.
All removals include:
A dashboard for tracking removal status in real time.
A free scan with no credit card required.
Three months of breach alerts.
An exposure analysis with recommendations.
Email and chat support.
Timelines and honesty about outcomes
Cooperative sites may respond within days; complex or hostile sites can take weeks or longer, particularly where legal escalation is required.
deleteme.com states directly that no ethical company can guarantee 100 percent removal in every case, that some websites comply quickly while others are resistant or hosted in difficult jurisdictions, and that it is transparent about the likelihood of success in each situation.
That framing is the correct one, and any service promising guaranteed total removal should be treated with suspicion.
On recurrence
Removed content can resurface on mirror sites or new platforms.
This is why removal should be paired with ongoing monitoring rather than treated as a one-time event.
Get assistance
https://deleteme.com/removals/custom-removals
Part 7: Realistic Timeline Expectations
Action | Typical response | Notes |
|---|---|---|
TAKE IT DOWN Act request to a US-covered platform | 48 hours (statutory) | Only if all four validity elements are included |
Aylo Content Removal Request | Days | Identity verification required; content disabled during review |
StopNCII hash submission | Ongoing | Forward-looking protection, not retroactive across the whole web |
Google search removal | Days to weeks | Trackable in Results about you |
DMCA to a hosting provider | Days to weeks | Often faster than the site operator |
XVideos, XNXX, xHamster forms | Days to weeks | Cite legal basis explicitly or expect no response |
Small mirror or clone sites | Highly variable | Frequently requires host or registrar escalation |
FTC complaint after platform non-compliance | Weeks to months | Regulatory, not an emergency channel |
Professional custom removal | Days to weeks or longer | Depends on site cooperation and jurisdiction |
Part 8: Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get content removed if I originally consented to it being filmed?
Yes. Consent to creation is not consent to distribution, and consent can be withdrawn. Platform policies and the TAKE IT DOWN Act both turn on whether you consented to the publication of the specific imagery, not on whether you participated in making it.
Does the 48-hour rule apply to sites based outside the United States?
The Act covers platforms that provide a forum for user-generated content or that publish, curate, host, or make NCII available, and reaches services operating in the US market regardless of where they are incorporated.
Whether the FTC can practically enforce against a given foreign operator is a separate question from whether the obligation applies.
Cite it regardless; many operators comply rather than test it.
What if the content is an AI-generated deepfake and not really me?
Synthetic and AI-generated intimate imagery is explicitly covered.
The TAKE IT DOWN Act criminalizes knowing publication of digital forgeries and includes them in the notice-and-removal framework.
StopNCII accepts hashes of deepfake imagery of you.
Google’s removal flow asks specifically whether the image is authentic or AI-generated.
Will removing content from Pornhub remove it everywhere?
No.
Removal is per-platform.
This is why the search de-indexing step and the hash-matching step matter as much as the individual platform filings, and why mirrors need to be mapped before you begin.
Do I have to pay to have content removed?
Not for the primary routes.
Platform removal forms, StopNCII, Take It Down, Google search removal, DMCA notices, and regulatory complaints are all free.
Paid services become relevant when those routes are exhausted or when the volume of sites makes self-filing impractical.
Any site that demands payment from you directly in exchange for removing your own content is engaged in extortion, not a service.
What if the person in the content was under 18?
Use NCMEC’s Take It Down service and report to law enforcement immediately.
Do not rely on ordinary platform removal forms, and do not attempt to handle it as a routine privacy matter.
Can content be removed from the dark web?
Removal from clearnet sites and removal from dark web sources are different problems requiring different approaches.
deleteme.com states it can remove personal and business information from companies selling private or business data.
Support Resources
If you are dealing with intimate image abuse, these organizations provide free confidential support:
StopNCII.org — free hash-based removal tool for adults, operated by SWGfL.
Revenge Porn Helpline (UK) — operated by SWGfL, over 90 percent removal rate.
Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (US) — victim support and legal referral.
NCMEC Take It Down — for content depicting anyone under 18.
TakeItDown.ftc.gov — FTC complaint portal for platforms that ignore valid removal requests.
This report is informational and is not legal advice.
Intimate image abuse is a crime in most jurisdictions, and where it has occurred a lawyer or law enforcement referral may be appropriate alongside the technical removal steps described here.
Editorial and Legal Note
Traffic rankings and platform procedures change.
This article was updated on August 7, 2026 using June 2026 traffic data.
Verify each platform’s current official form before submitting sensitive information.
This report provides general information and is not legal advice.
Sources
Semrush Trending Websites, Adult category, worldwide and United States, June 2026
Federal Trade Commission, business guidance on complying with the TAKE IT DOWN Act
Finnegan, WilmerHale, Wiley, Reed Smith, and Covington client alerts on TIDA implementation and enforcement, May to July 2026
StopNCII.org, how it works and FAQ
SWGfL and Revenge Porn Helpline published figures
Google Search Help, removing personal sexual images from Search results
Google blog, February 2026 announcement on non-consensual explicit image removal
Aylo transparency and trust and safety materials; Statista, Pornhub content removal request volumes 2021 to 2025
National Association of Attorneys General, analysis of TIDA benefits and shortcomings
deleteme.com Custom Removals service documentation
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