Knowing how to report impersonation on social media is crucial to protect the online reputation of people and brands. Luckily, the process is quick and straightforward on most of the social networks. Reporting an account only requires completing an online form.
Reporting an account for impersonation is useful not only when a stranger is pretending to be us, but also when one of our accounts has been hacked or we lost access and we are no longer interested in keeping that account.
We can report an account for pretending to be us, our company or our brand. In any case, some documentation will be required to prove our identity (ID or passport, usually) and our relation to the company and trademark if applicable. If our report is successful, the reported account will be suspended or deleted.
When someone is impersonating us, sometimes in the same form there is an option to claim the username so that username will become our account’s username. Celebrities might need this, since the simplest and most desireable usernames are often appropriated by impostors. The response is usually quick. Checking regularly for fake accounts and impersonators is highly recommendable.
How to report impersonation on Facebook
Go to “Report an impostor account“. Facebook has a real name policy for the profiles, so even if the account is a parody, it will be removed. We can also report directly from the impostor’s profile page by clicking 
on the cover photo and selecting “Report”. Then we can choose “This timeline is pretending to be me or someone I know” “This is a fake account”, “This profile represents a business or organization” or “This timeline is using a fake name”. We can report fan pages by following the same procedure.
How to report impersonation on Twitter
The form is called “Report an account for impersonation“. It can also be used in case of hacking. In case of someone impersonating our company, brand or organization, we can claim the username. Keep in mind that the reported account will not be suspended nor deleted if it is a parody account, because it is understood that there is no confusion risk between the real and the fake one. It will be removed only if its purpose is to trick users.
How to report impersonation on Linkedin
Linkedin allows us to report impostors pretending to be us or anyone else if the profiles are duplicated. For reporting a fake profile on Linkedin we have two options. We can complete the form Report duplicate profile or we can report the profile directly from the profile page by following these steps:
- On the profile you want to report, hover your cursor over the Dropdown arrow next to Send a Message or Send InMail/View in Recruiter in the top section of their profile.
- Select Block or Report.
- Click the box next to Report.
How to report impersonation on Google Plus
On Google Plus we should complete the Report impersonation form. It allows us to report a profile if it is pretending to be us (not someone else). It also allows us to report an account “falsely representing a business or organization”. Fan and parody account are permitted but their names should be clearly different from the official names and they cannot use official logos as profile picture.