My video went viral on someone else's account.How do I get credit?
First map the chain: find every account that posted your footage and when, so you know which copy the others came from and who is actually getting the views. Then ask that account for a credit and a link, comment with your original, and report the copies that refuse — with your original post and file as proof. Free scan. You only pay if we find something worth opening — you see the price first.
- Finds the copies on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X and meme sites.
- Shows dates when pages carry them, to put the chain in order.
- Gives you the links to send, comment on or report.
A link checks the first ~5 seconds. To check the whole video, upload the file.
a link searches the first ~5 seconds; your file searches it all
Not a real result — try your own video above ↑ unlock every account in the chain
Who posted it, in what order.
Upload what you filmed
Your original file, not the viral copy: it has the full frame and covers the whole video.
Find where it spread
Every public page carrying your footage, on the big apps and the sites that aggregate viral clips.
Order by date
Open each page and note its date. The earliest copies are usually where the rest were taken from.
Going viral once does not need a subscription.
A viral moment is a week of chaos, not a recurring event. Spending $7.00 a month to track it afterwards is money spent on nothing.
Map the spread for $2.90 when you unlock the search. Top up from $2.90; anything left over stays in your balance.
- Retrace
- $2.90
- Competitor (1 month)
- $7.00
- Competitor (1 year,
never cancelled) - $84.00
Tracing the post chain without a tool.
Viral copies leave a trail you can follow by hand. Start from the copy you saw and work backwards:
1.Read the copy you saw
Look for a watermark, a username burned into the frame, a “via” or “cr:” in the caption, and the comments. Viewers often name the account it came from.
2.Follow the sound or audio page
On TikTok and Instagram, the audio page lists other posts with the same track. The earliest high-view post there is often the copy everyone else took it from.
3.Search the caption the copies share
Copies of copies tend to inherit the same caption. Search it in quotes on Google and inside each platform.
Write each copy down with its date and views as you go. The order of the chain matters more than any single copy, because the big account is the one to ask first.
Every link in the chain at once.
Instead of hopping from copy to copy, upload what you filmed and Retrace searches frames from the whole clip across the platforms and aggregator sites in one pass. Each result is a page carrying your footage, marked confirmed when its thumbnail lines up with your frames.
When pages carry dates, the earliest appearance found is shown, which gives you a starting point for the chain. The matched moment on each row also tells you which copies are trimmed versions of others.
Scanning is free. The links are $2.90 to unlock. We do not contact the accounts for you.
What the search does not settle.
Getting credit involves people and platforms, and a search only covers part of it:
Copies you cannot see
Private accounts, group chats and deleted posts are invisible to any search, and viral clips travel through all three.
Who copied whom
We find copies and the dates pages show. The direction of copying is your judgement, based on dates, watermarks and crops.
Getting the credit
We give you the links. Whether an account adds credit is up to them and, if you report, the platform.
Legal advice
None here. If the video is earning money for someone else, a lawyer can tell you what you are entitled to.
Where to go next.
- TikTok: report copyright infringement — For copies on TikTok that will not credit or remove.
- Instagram: copyright report form — For copies on Instagram.
Straight answers.
The free scan tells you how far the footage spread before you pay to see where.
Map the spread free →How do I get credit for my viral video?
Find the accounts that posted it, starting with the one with the most views and the earliest date. Message them asking for a credit with your username in the caption, comment on the post with a link to your original, and report copies that refuse using the platform's copyright form.
How do I find which account made my video go viral?
Collect every copy, note each one's date and view count, and look for the earliest copy with large reach. Copies made after it often carry its watermark or caption, which is how you can tell the others were taken from it.
Can I make them remove it instead of crediting me?
If you own the video, you can file a copyright report on each copy. Some creators ask for credit first because the post is already bringing people to their account; that choice is yours.
The viral copy has a different watermark. Does that matter?
Their watermark does not make it theirs. Your original file, the uncropped frame and your earlier post date are what show who made it.
Do aggregator pages have to credit the creator?
Platform rules and the law differ, and this is not legal advice. In practice, many aggregator accounts add credit when the creator asks with proof, and some only respond to a copyright report.