Aren't you legally required to take my photos down?

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Non-DMCA Requested Removals

The short answer is: No, we're not legally required to take down your photos. In the United States, there is no general "right to be forgotten" that forces a platform to remove an ordinary photo just because the person depicted in it asks.

Tea is a platform designed for women to share information and safety experiences. Because our mission relies on the ability to share real stories, we operate within specific legal frameworks that protect the community’s right to post and discuss their experiences.

OUR PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS

Under U.S. law, platforms are generally not considered the publisher of content posted by their users. This legal foundation allows our community to share information without the platform being forced to censor posts that someone finds upsetting.

  • Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects platforms from being legally compelled to remove content for ordinary "privacy" reasons.

  • If the photo isn't illegal or intimate in nature, we are typically not required to remove it.

  • State privacy laws, like the CCPA, generally only apply to data a business collects directly from you; they do not usually apply to a photo a third party uploaded about you.

  • Right-of-publicity laws only apply if we use your face for commercial advertising or selling, which does not cover standard user posts in a feed.


OUR POLICIES

While we may not be legally required to remove a photo, we do have strict Community Guidelines. We choose to remove content based on our own safety policies rather than general "privacy" requests.

 When we choose to remove content (expand) 

  • We do not remove ordinary photos solely because you are depicted in them.

  • We will remove content that violates our policies on harassment, stalking, doxxing, or impersonation.

  • We have a zero-tolerance policy for Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery (NCII) and minors on the platform.

  • If you do not own the copyright to the photo (meaning you didn't take it), you cannot use a DMCA copyright claim to force a removal.

HOW WE VERIFY REQUESTS

To keep the platform honest and prevent the removal of truthful safety warnings, we require a high level of proof before we take action on a policy-based request.

 Requirements for takedown (expand) 

  • You must provide the exact permalink or URL to the post; we do not accept screenshots alone.

  • You must provide a specific description of how the post violates our safety policies.

  • We may require identity verification to confirm you are the person in the photo before considering a removal.

  • We reserve the right to share your correspondence with the user who posted the content to maintain transparency.

FINAL NOTES

Removing this content does not constitute an admission of infringement or a validation of your rights. Tea reserves the right to keep a copy of the content for legal, compliance, or other necessary purposes.