Update on Similar Refusals

Hi @Raul Ceron29343509 ,

Thank you for that explanation. In my case I have no problem with similar. However, I find it odd that after submitting more than 4,000 acceptable quality photos, I suddenly do not know how to produce quality that Adobe will accept. What is even more odd, is that I am able to find other contributor's flaws, but not mine. It is as if my account is being flagged for refusals. Recently a work refused by Adobe was submitted elsewhere and was licensed with two days. Frankly, that tells me the quality of that photo is good and the subject is in high demand.

Regards

Jacquelin 

I've had my share of rejected "similar images" lately. Also seems that editorial content (no people, mostly natural science museums, landmarks, and public art) have been arbitrarily rejected more often as well. Some batches are accepted, some from the location aren't accepted as they have an "illustrative editorial issue."

Meanwhile, I have seven photos I submitted six months ago that are awaiting review. And there are only three similar images. What's the deal Adobe?

I've been uploading to Adobe since 2016 and have weathered the changes you've made (editorial photos can no longer have recognizable people in them).  At some point, submitting to you won't be worth the aggravation.

More detailed tests, 05/10/2025

Keywords

anime girl autumn cat ears， 40 results

anime girl autumn reading, 195 results

anime girl autumn slime, 6 results

The results of keywords and the title search show us this is a niche market, you should be safe from "similar content" issue, right? Unfortunately, "find similar" give you another conclusions

Every picture has more than 30 millions "similar images"

You may ask, "if we could find the image with low search results by keywords and find similar, would it avoid the issue of "similar content"? The answer is no

I really don't get it how their algorithm works, it looks like totally random, unless for anime style images. Maybe old contributors who has more than thousands images would have higher success rate? Looks like they just randomly filter out 80%~90% and tell the managers "We get the job done, clean and fast"

Regarding the duplication of content in Adobe Stock compared to the millions of content in your library, it is very difficult to prevent every creator from creating unique content. I think it is better to let the buyers choose what kind of work they want. If they reject it because of duplication of content, I think it is very difficult to make it unique. Let me ask you, if you were a content creator and created your own content, and your library has millions of works, would you not create works that are duplicates of what you have created before? As for the reasons for rejecting works in many cases, they only speak in general terms and do not go into details. Because I believe that the creators who submit their work have studied the requirements very well and know that the work meets your requirements. But when it is rejected, it is not clear why it was rejected from the reviewer's perspective.

Still see lots of similar images approved. Below are the most recent transparent PNG approved for the same contributor. Based on similarity rejection experience, such kind of similarity assets will be refused as similar. Can please explain the actual logic or algorithm of similarity works? 

I tried to search similar images by "find similar", the results I find are

Insert keywords

"Anime girl autumn pool maple", only 5 images found

Please tell me why do the systems/moderator think my image considered as "Similar content in our collection"?Do we have a better criteria to find out why? Thanks

Thanks for share this

This might also serve as an example of images being misinterpreted as similar. After a number of rejections for similar assets (some of which are at least arguably justifiable), and watching my rejection drop by nearly 3 points, I created the asset below.

I even researched it before bothering to create it. Yes, there are a lot of mice in the database. And a lot of cats. And a lot of cats with mice. There are even anthropomorphic mice wearing camouflage while carrying AR 15's in harsh terrain. But I could find nothing along the lines of this particular concept. The argument can always be made that an asset such as this would never sell, but it still appears far from anything similar to what is already in the database. Which makes me wonder if the logic behind such rejections is based on actual images, or more so on keywords and titles.

Anyway, just my two cents, and your update is greatly appreciated.

Hi Raul,

Thanks for this update which confirms what many of have concluded for some weeks now.

I think the main issue with the "similars" rejections is that whatever method or algorithm that is being used to determine similarity does not appear to be accurate enough. I have two recent examples of rejections for similarity which are perplexing. This one is a colonnade in the Palace of Governors in Santa Fe. Whether I search for keywords or use image search in Adobe Stock or use image search in Google, similars are not found in Adobe Stock. In this case, the algorithm is causing the opposite of the intended effect: it is rejecting unique content rather than eliminating similar content. Meanwhile, it is not at all difficult to find portfolios that have egregious violations of the "similars" rule, and it appears that on such accounts, similars are still being added.

I am hoping that Adobe plans to continue tweaking this "similars" algorithm, as it does seem to be unreliable based on my experience as well as that of many other Contributors.

I think it would be very useful if you could provide detailed information on how to avoid rejection on the grounds of “similarity”.

For example, below is an image of mine that was rejected for "Similarity":

If I'm not mistaken, this is a female cyborg in the jungle, depicted in oil painting style.

When I search for “cyborg, female, forest, oil paint” on Adobe Stock from Canada, only 1 result appears, which is probably a mistake, because the thing on the horse looks more like an ancient warrior (human) than a cyborg.

For my part, I cannot see how there can be any uniqueness in this situation, and as I said at the beginning, I can only hope for a detailed explanation from you.

Participants' reasons for contributing to Adobe Stock are certainly varied, but for me, it's the most perfect job I've ever found, one that will keep me from sitting at home all day in my impending retirement, one that will keep my brain working and reduce the risk of Alzheimer's/dementia, one where I won't have staff problems or customer whims, and one where I can work when I want and relax when I don't.

That's why, of course, I don't want to lose my account because of the “Similarity” problem that I don't clearly understand.