Who to call when you need someone in your corner.
Every organization on this page is free, and none of them will tell your school, your parents, or your employer without your say-so — unless the law makes them (imminent danger to yourself or someone else). Save the numbers you might need. You don't want to be searching mid-crisis.
Image-based abuse & sextortion
If a nude, deepfake, or intimate image is being shared, or someone is threatening to share one, these organizations move fast and cost nothing.
Take It Down (NCMEC)
For anyone under 18 (or an image taken when you were under 18). Creates a hash of the image so participating platforms — Meta, TikTok, Snap, Pornhub, OnlyFans, X — block re-uploads. Anonymous, free, you keep the image on your device.
StopNCII.org
Same idea as Take It Down but for adults 18+. Run by the UK Revenge Porn Helpline; works with most major platforms globally.
NCMEC CyberTipline
Report sextortion, online enticement, and CSAM involving anyone under 18. Referred directly to the FBI when criminal.
FBI — sextortion & online crime
Federal jurisdiction over sextortion of minors and interstate threats. They will not judge you and will not tell your school.
Cyber Civil Rights Initiative Crisis Helpline
24/7 support for victims of non-consensual intimate imagery, including deepfakes. Free, confidential.
Crisis Text Line
If you're in emotional crisis while dealing with any of this. Free, 24/7, confidential.
Text HOME to 741741
Online privacy & digital rights
For device searches, school surveillance, data removal, and knowing what the law actually says about your phone and accounts.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
The go-to for digital rights explainers. See 'Know Your Rights' and 'Surveillance Self-Defense' (ssd.eff.org) for step-by-step device and account hardening.
EFF Surveillance Self-Defense
Practical guides: locking down your phone, protest safety, secure messaging, avoiding phishing. Written for non-experts.
ACLU — Know Your Rights
State-by-state rights info for phone searches, protest, school, and immigration stops. Local ACLU affiliates handle case referrals.
Student Press Law Center
Free legal help for student journalists and anyone dealing with school censorship, records requests, or First Amendment issues on campus.
Access Now Digital Security Helpline
24/7 free help if you're being hacked, tracked, or targeted online. Especially for activists, journalists, and at-risk users.
Have I Been Pwned
Check if your email or phone number has been in a data breach. Free.
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse — data broker opt-outs
The most complete list of opt-out links for Spokeo, BeenVerified, Whitepages, and every other people-search site that lists your address.
Immigration rights
If you or someone in your family is undocumented, in DACA, on a visa, or facing ICE or CBP. You have rights regardless of status — these organizations exist to enforce them.
United We Dream — Deportation Defense Hotline
24/7 hotline to report ICE activity, get connected to a lawyer, and access rapid-response networks. Youth-led, bilingual.
National Immigration Law Center (NILC)
Legal resources on DACA, work authorization, public benefits eligibility, and state-level protections. Not a direct legal services provider — they publish the guides your lawyer should be reading.
Immigrant Legal Resource Center — Red Cards
Free printable cards in 20+ languages you can hand to an ICE agent at your door instead of speaking. Assert your rights without saying a word.
Informed Immigrant — Find a lawyer
Searchable directory of free and low-cost immigration legal help, filtered by state and case type.
RAICES
Free and low-cost legal services for immigrants and refugees, especially in Texas and at the southern border. Bond fund for detained people.
CAIR Coalition — youth detention
Legal representation for unaccompanied minors and detained immigrants in the DC/VA/MD area. Referral resources nationally.
ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project
Know-your-rights materials for ICE encounters at home, at work, on the street, and at the border. Available in Spanish.
USCIS Case Status & Contact
For DACA renewals, green card applications, and work authorization questions. Government line — do not share more than the case number.
General safety & crisis
If you or someone else is in immediate danger.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Call or text 988. Free, 24/7. Press 3 for LGBTQ+-affirming counselors.
Trevor Project (LGBTQ+ youth)
24/7 crisis support for LGBTQ+ people under 25. Free, confidential.
1-866-488-7386Text START to 678-678RAINN — National Sexual Assault Hotline
24/7 confidential support. Also runs the DoD Safe Helpline for military-connected survivors.
Love Is Respect (teen dating abuse)
Free 24/7 help for anyone experiencing dating abuse — includes digital abuse, coerced sexting, and stalking.
1-866-331-9474Text LOVEIS to 22522
Missing an organization that helped you? This list stays useful only if it stays current — the info here reflects our best read as of 2026, but hotlines change numbers and organizations come and go. Double-check the URL before you rely on it in an emergency.