Instagram is owned by Meta, and like Facebook it runs a dedicated form for copyright complaints. If your work has been reposted without your permission, a valid notice through that form gets it removed.
Use Instagram’s copyright form
Everything goes through Meta’s Instagram copyright report form.
Open it and follow the prompts. You will confirm whether you are the copyright owner or an authorized agent, describe your original work, paste the exact links to the infringing material (the specific posts, Reels, or Stories, not a profile), and sign the two standard statements: a good-faith belief that the use is unauthorized, and that your information is accurate and you are authorized to act. If you want help with the wording of the description and the ownership statement, our DMCA notice generator produces that language for you to adapt into the form.
Be precise with the links, and keep one underlying work per submission. A report that points at a specific Reel or post gives Meta something to act on, while one that points at a whole profile gives it room to stall.
After you submit, Meta confirms receipt and acts on valid notices, usually within a few days.
If it is not removed, escalate to Apple
If Meta leaves the content up or rejects the report, follow up first. If that leads nowhere, you can escalate to the company that distributes the Instagram app. Apple runs a process for intellectual property disputes over apps in the App Store, and a complaint that the app is hosting content that infringes your copyright applies pressure Meta cannot brush off. File it through Apple’s App Store intellectual property dispute form. (On Android, the equivalent is Google’s legal removal form, selecting Google Play and then Copyright.)
Because Instagram and Facebook share Meta’s process, the steps are nearly identical on both. If your work is also on Facebook, our Facebook copyright guide covers it. For other platforms, see the guides to X and TikTok, and the explainer on what the DMCA is covers why these notices work.