DMCA and copyright

Nothing is hosted here

IGDL stores no video files. When someone pastes a link, the server reads the public Instagram page that Instagram already serves to a visitor who is not signed in, finds the address of the video, and passes that address to the visitor's browser. The video then transfers directly from Instagram's own delivery network to their device. In rare cases where that direct transfer fails, the file is relayed through our server as it arrives, without ever being written to disk or kept afterwards.

The only thing held on our side is a short-lived cache entry: the shortcode taken from the pasted link, together with the public post details Instagram reads back to us: the poster's username and display name, their avatar address, the caption text, and the thumbnail and video addresses. It is kept for about ten minutes so repeat requests do not fetch the same page twice, and it belongs to the shortcode rather than to any visitor. No copy of any video is created, kept, indexed or published by us.

That matters for a takedown request, because there is no file here to remove. If a video should not be publicly available, the effective step is to have it removed or made private at the source, on Instagram, after which it stops being reachable through this or any similar tool.

Sending a notice anyway

If you are a copyright owner, or authorised to act for one, and you believe this service is being used to infringe your rights, you may send a notice. Write to hello@igdl.app with DMCA in the subject line.

To be valid under 17 U.S.C. section 512(c)(3), a notice must include all of the following:

• A physical or electronic signature of the owner of the exclusive right that is allegedly infringed, or of a person authorised to act on that owner's behalf.
• Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if several works at one site are covered by a single notice, a representative list of those works.
• Identification of the material claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity, with enough information to let us locate it. Include the exact Instagram URL.
• Information reasonably sufficient to let us contact you: your name, address, telephone number and email address.
• A statement that you have a good faith belief that the use complained of is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
• A statement that the information in the notice is accurate, and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorised to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

A notice missing any of these elements may not be actionable. Please do not send a bare link with no other detail.

What happens next

Complete notices are reviewed by a person. Because no material is hosted here, the usual outcome is a written response explaining what can and cannot be done, together with any step available to us, such as blocking a specific URL from being processed by the tool. Repeated misuse of the service leads to access being restricted.

Counter-notices

If material of yours was affected by a notice and you believe it was removed or blocked by mistake or misidentification, you may send a counter-notice to the same address, with DMCA counter-notice in the subject line. It should identify the material and its location, include your name, address, telephone number and email, and include a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification, along with your consent to the jurisdiction of the appropriate federal court.

Misrepresentation

Under 17 U.S.C. section 512(f), anyone who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing, or that it was removed by mistake, may be liable for damages. Notices are not a tool for settling unrelated disputes.

A note for everyone else

The copyright in a reel belongs to the person who made it. Saving a public video for your own offline viewing is ordinary personal use. Re-posting it as your own work is not, and the creator can have it removed. Ask first, or credit clearly and link back. Related terms are on the terms page.