Platform guide

Removing an arrest post from Facebook

Checked 2026-08-25

This is the hardest surface in the category, and you should know that before anyone quotes you. Meta's own rules permit posts about criminal allegations against adults, so there is often no policy violation to report.

Why county arrest pages are so durable

Meta's bullying and harassment standard sorts protections into tiers by who the target is. For adults, the tier covering negative claims about character or ability carries an explicit exception for criminal allegations. A page posting that an adult was arrested is, on its face, doing something the standard contemplates rather than something it forbids.

That is why reporting a county "busted" page for harassment usually fails, and why a service that promises Facebook removal on the same terms as a mugshot site is either charging for something it cannot control or planning to do something else and call it that.

What does work

Three things, in descending order of reliability. First, the page administrator: many county arrest pages are run by one person, and a direct, specific request about a dismissed case is answered more often than people expect. Second, private-information reporting: Meta's rules do prohibit threats to release private phone numbers, addresses, email or medical records, so a post that includes those details has a route the arrest allegation alone does not. Third, copyright: if you own the photograph — not the county's booking photo, but a picture of you taken by you or by someone who assigned you rights — a takedown is a legitimate mechanism.

What does not work is a fabricated copyright claim on a booking photo you do not own. Filing notices you have no right to file is traceable and it is being traced: an August 2026 investigation documented a campaign of fraudulent takedown notices filed through shell entities to de-index news coverage, and the reporting named the entities. We log every notice we file for exactly this reason.

What it costs, and why the quotes are high

Social-platform removal is priced at the top of this market. The only competitor publishing a rate card lists mugshot image removal from Facebook or Instagram at $3,695.99, and a broader Facebook or Instagram removal at $4,895.99 — against $549.99 to $1,895.99 for the ordinary publisher work. The price reflects difficulty, not extra effort, and a high price is not evidence anyone can do it.

Our position: we will tell you on the free lookup whether your specific post has a route. If it does not, we say so rather than selling you an attempt.

Two problems that need doing in order

A public Facebook post and its Google result are separate problems with separate owners, and doing them in the wrong order wastes the effort. Only Facebook can take the post down — the account holder or Facebook's own reporting process. Google can only act on the indexed copy, and it refuses any refresh request while the content is still live on the page. So the post first, the search result second.

The one route that can reach a post nobody will remove is the doxxing prong of Google's personal-information policy, and it is narrower than people hope. It covers personal information published alongside explicit or implicit threats, or a significant volume of aggregated personal information with no legitimate purpose. A booking photograph on its own is neither.

Common questions

Can Facebook be forced to take down a post about my arrest?

Generally no, if the post is only the allegation and involves an adult. Meta's community standard on bullying and harassment carries an explicit exception for criminal allegations, so there is often no violation to report.

What if the charges were dropped?

That improves your case with the page administrator and with any statutory demand against a website, but it does not by itself create a Facebook policy violation. Meta's rules turn on the type of claim, not on how the case ended.

Can I use a copyright claim?

Only if you actually hold rights in the image. A county booking photograph is not yours. Filing a notice you have no right to file is both ineffective and traceable.

Try the free route first

Before paying anyone: Google removes your contact details and government ID numbers at no cost through its own tool. It will not remove an arrest record, so it is not the answer to this page — but it is free, it takes minutes, and it clears a category of result people often assume they have to buy their way out of.

Open Google’s Results about you tool

Sources

Every claim on this page traces to the sources above, checked on 2026-08-25. Rules in this area change — several of the ones on this page changed in the last three years. If you find something here that is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.