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What are DMCA Takedowns and why was my contribution removed?

What are DMCA Takedowns?

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States copyright law that Stack Exchange abides by. Per the act, the company needs to remove copyrighted content that infringes the holder's rights when notified of its existence on our platform. DMCA Takedown requests are how copyright holders inform us of its existence

Why was my content removed?

Stack Exchange needs to abide by lawful, non-spurious, and validly signed takedown requests. If your content has been removed with a DMCA Notice, we have received such a notice and have processed it accordingly.

Can the removed content be restored?

If you believe the content has been removed in error and that it is not copyrighted content, the original poster can submit a DMCA Takedown Counter-Notice. Please check our Copyright Policy for details on needs. Stack Exchange is not a law firm and cannot give you legal advice on the validity of submitting a counter-notice or not. Please be aware that doing so can carry legal risks. Broadly speaking, these are the reasons why a counter-notice will be valid:

  • Your use of the copyrighted content falls under fair use. This is highly subjective, and caution needs to be exercised if you rely on this ground alone.
  • The content is not actually covered by copyright.
  • The content is owned by someone else other than the notifying party.

Here is what we will need from you to submit a counter-notice:

  • Identification, including the specific URLs, of material that Stack Exchange has removed or to which Stack Exchange has disabled access.
  • User’s name, address, telephone number, and email address.
  • A statement that User consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or New York County, New York if your address is outside of the United States), and that User will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
  • The following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that I have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled."
  • User’s physical or electronic signature.

You can submit the counter-notice to us through our /contact page by selecting the "I want to send a DMCA Notice or Counterclaim" option.