PimEyes opt-out for trans creators: face search and a former name

The free PimEyes opt-out removes a face from PimEyes results. A search on a current photo then stops surfacing older photos that may carry a former name. It needs a photo of the face and an ID scan with the name covered. It does not delete those photos from the sites that host them, and other face search engines need their own requests.

For trans creators, the worry is rarely one photo. It is a face search joining current work to older photos, and older photos to a former name. Many trans people call that former name a deadname. This guide covers the PimEyes and FaceCheck.ID forms step by step, what each removes, and what each asks the person to hand over. It is written by Beloura, a management agency built for trans creators. It is general information, not legal advice.

How a face search can tie current work to a former name

A face search engine takes an uploaded photo and returns other public pages showing a similar face. It does not need a name. That is why it can link two parts of a life that a creator keeps apart.

The link usually runs in one of two directions:

• From content to the past. Someone takes a still from a creator's paid or promo content, searches the face, and finds older pages. School, work or social media pages from earlier years may carry a former name.
• From the past to content. Someone who knew the creator under a former name searches an old photo and lands on current work.

Neither direction needs a legal name on any adult page. The face does the joining. One result can out a creator to people they never chose to tell.

PimEyes says its results depend on image quality, angle, lighting and how closely the uploaded photo matches indexed content. A face that has changed over the years may match older photos less closely. That cuts both ways. It can make a link harder for a stranger to find. It can also make an opt-out based only on a current selfie miss older photos.

How to opt out of PimEyes, step by step

The form is on the PimEyes site under Opt-Out, in the top menu and the footer. It has three steps, read on 3 October 2026:

1. Upload a clear photo of the face. PimEyes suggests more than one photo, from different angles, for better results. Three boxes must be ticked. They give consent to use the photo to block matching images, accept the privacy policy and terms, and confirm being over 18.
2. Upload an anonymised scan of an ID or passport. PimEyes links its own instruction on how to cover the document. Its privacy policy describes the result as a scan "where only their photo is shown and other data is covered". A box confirms the scan holds no sensitive data, and another gives consent to block matching images.
3. Give an email address. PimEyes says it uses this to contact the person about the request, and a box agrees to be told the result. Then submit.

The form page does not state a processing time. The result arrives by email.

Checking it worked. After the result email, the creator can run a PimEyes search again with the same photos and compare. PimEyes offers a free search from its home page. If older photos still appear, they may not have matched the face uploaded, and a second request with an older photo is an option.

What it removes, and what it keeps. PimEyes says that once processed, the face is removed from its index and excluded from future searches. It says it cannot take a photo down from the website where it was posted, and that questions about a photo go to that site. Its privacy policy says opt-out uploads are kept for no more than 96 hours, then removed, and that it keeps a record of the request. The same policy also lists a telephone number among the details an opt-out may ask for.

The paid takedown service. PimEyes also sells takedowns on its PROtect and Advanced plans, which ask websites to remove photos. Its privacy policy says that service shares the subscriber's photo, signature, address, anonymised ID scan, email address and telephone number with those websites. Where a legal name is still a former name, those details would go to sites the creator does not control. The guide on anonymous DMCA takedowns covers whose name appears on a copyright notice sent another way.

How to remove photos from FaceCheck.ID

FaceCheck.ID keeps its own index, so a PimEyes opt-out does nothing there. Its Remove My Photos page, read on 3 October 2026, sets out this order:

1. Search with the creator's own photo and find the matching results.
2. Open Remove My Photos in the top menu and select every photo to remove.
3. Confirm with a live selfie at the bottom of the page. The site says most selfie requests are approved at once and the photos are deleted right away.
4. If a selfie is not possible, upload an anonymised ID. This goes to manual review and comes with a tracking link. The site says the photos are hidden from new searches straight away. Within 1 to 5 business days it confirms the document and that the face matches. Once approved, the photos and the uploaded document are deleted.

The site says removal is always free. A new search with the same photo afterwards shows whether the results have gone.

Before submitting: keeping a former name off the forms

Every opt-out asks for a new photo of the face, and some ask for an ID. That is itself a disclosure, so a few choices are worth making first:

1. Cover the name on any ID. Both services ask for an anonymised scan. Covering everything except the photo keeps a former name off the form.
2. Choose which photos to upload. A current photo may not catch older ones. Adding an older photo may catch more, but it hands that photo to the service too. That trade-off is the creator's to make.
3. Expect the face to be compared with the ID. FaceCheck.ID says it checks that the face matches the document. An ID photo from before transition may not match a current selfie, which is one reason its selfie route can be simpler.
4. Use an email only the creator can read. Avoid one set up under a former name, or shared with a former partner or family member.

Other face search engines exist, each with its own process. Each one's privacy page says what it removes and what it asks for.

What a PimEyes opt-out does not touch

A face search opt-out does not change Google, the sites hosting the photos, or accounts reusing them. Each needs its own route.

• Google. Google needs separate requests. Google's sexual content removal page covers one route unique to this problem. It includes a person's image used on a pornographic website, even when the image is not sexual. That can fit older photos reposted next to adult content. The guide on old accounts and usernames in a former name covers Results about you, doxxing and refreshing outdated results. The leaked content guide explains why delisting a page is not the same as removing it.
• Impostor accounts using older photos or a former name: see the guide on Meta Verified and a former name.
• Threats to share older photos or a former name are a safety problem, not a search one. Save the messages, links and dates, and report the account where the threat arrived.

A short order of work

1. Run a self-search on each face search engine with a current photo and, if the creator chooses, an older one. Use a private window, signed out, on a device the creator does not share, so the searches do not sit in a synced history.
2. Note what appears on each engine, and which results carry a former name.
3. Opt out of each engine, covering the name on any ID and using a private email.
4. Re-run the same searches after each confirmation, and send a second request if older photos remain.
5. Keep a dated log of each request, its confirmation and what changed.

The name change checklist covers the accounts and records where a former name tends to linger, which is often where a face search result leads.

Where these details come from

The PimEyes steps come from its Opt-Out Request Form, Privacy Policy, Privacy & Ethics page and FAQ. The FaceCheck.ID steps come from its Remove My Photos page. All were read on their own sites on 3 October 2026. They are named rather than linked here, and forms change, so it is worth reading each page before submitting. The Google route is linked under Sources.

What changed

• 3 October 2026: first published.
• 3 October 2026: rewritten around the PimEyes and FaceCheck.ID forms, step by step. Google, impostor and threat sections cut to pointers to the guides that cover them.