31 Image Theft Statistics and Facts You Need To Know in 2023

Studies by IMGembed and Copytrack show that of the three billion images shared online daily, around 85% are unlicensed. That’s a total of around 2.5 billion stolen images!

The total number of stolen images is approximately 2.5 billion daily.

According to estimates, image theft costs the world 536.5 billion Euros daily!

Artists, photographers, publishers, and image agencies aren’t always aware that their photos are stolen.

It was found that 64 percent of professional photographers reported theft more than 200 times. Forty-four percent of hobbyists reported theft as well.

Every time a professional picture is stolen and used illegally, photographers and agencies lose $446.

Disabling right click on your website and images are the best way to prevent visitors from downloading the content to their computers. 

To prevent disabling right-click menu, you can use the WPShield Content Protector plugin for WordPress.

The most popular photo thieves online are the following:

1- 49% Bloggers and social media users

2- 28% Commercial businesses

3- 11% Individual professionals

4- 12% others

A few Google practices have already been implemented, so it’s harder to download images, such as blocking image URL links.

Although this can frustrate thieves, it won’t stop image theft. Much more could and should be done. You’d be surprised how often we hear, “I found it on Google, so I can use it for free.”

The statistics from 2016 show that 64% of photographers have experienced image theft, and 33% never took legal action when they discovered someone stole their picture.

1- Add watermark to photos

2- Disable right click on your website

3- Add copyright notice or DMCA badges to your site

Photographers didn’t experience image theft more than 50 times last year, but the amount still exceeded expectations. 

It’s common for stolen images to be tagged with funny or cruel captions and circulated on the internet

Photographers whose work was stolen had their watermarks removed 68% of the time!

When a court finds that a watermark was removed, it’s way more likely to result in compensation for the photographer since it shows willful copyright infringement.

There are 22% of photographers call out image thieves, and 49% shame them on social media because they don’t have time or legal resources.

41% of full-time photographers can’t afford legal action or don’t have the time.

There are 15% of photographers who earn over $1000 a year resolving image theft

The study revealed that only 22% of photographers could afford a legal team, and the numbers get even worse for full-time photographers.

In the absence of compensation or in the event that an infringer is unresponsive, DMCA takedowns may be the best option.

There is a problem with DMCA takedowns, as it can take between 15-20 minutes to research the contact information of an infringer and draft a single takedown notification.

In 2015, Jeff Werner filed a successful suit against clickbait site ViralNova for the use and profit of his images.

As a result of their use and profiting from his photographs without his permission or credit, he took legal action. The graphic representations in his court documents offer a clear picture of how image theft can appear in court and how extensive it can be if proven.

Despite your best efforts, in the event that you believe that you have accomplished due diligence and investigated image theft online for your images, keep in mind that 72% of the stolen photographs by other businesses are altered, making it more difficult for you to find them.

The most common type of photo theft occurs via platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr, followed by commercial businesses and individual professionals.

Pinterest is the most used social media site for image theft.

Most social media used for image theft are the following:

1- Pinterest 41%

2- Youtube 19%

3- Tumblr 15%

4- Facebook 2%

5- Twitter 1%

6- Instagram 1%

33.90% of illegal image use is committed in North America, the third biggest continent in the world. Europe gets the second spot on the list with 31.40 percent infringers, and Asia gets the third spot with 29.38 percent infringers.

The top 10 countries in terms of most image infringement are the USA at 22.96%, Panama at 6.76%, China at 6.47%, Germany at 6.32%, the UK at 3.75%, Indonesia at 3.53%, Japan at 3.33%, Italy at 2.09%, and Russia at 3.04%.

Comparing countries, the US is the world’s leading image thief, with 22.96% of all hits.

For unlicensed images, it’s most common to use 1920 x 1080 HD size.

For things like wallpapers and large photo galleries, users like this format when the screen needs to be filled. 

People are mostly concerned about ripping off photos for display on screens because the most popular resolution of infringed photos is 1920 x 1080.

83.6 percent of all unlicensed images are downloaded from the .com domain.

Domains that end in .com are extremely popular among companies and individuals throughout the world, and there are no geographic restrictions imposed at registration.

Accordingly, it’s no surprise that this domain comes first with 48.76 percent of all unlicensed image use. Following a large gap, the .net domain, which is also used internationally, takes second place.

A German .de domain doesn’t come up until third place. You’ll find a mix of international and local domains in the top ten, including .ru Russia, .org, .it Italy, and .info, .jp Japan, .co.uk United Kingdom, and .pl, the top-level domain used in Polandoland, .pl.