diff --git a/torchvision/datasets/lfw.py b/torchvision/datasets/lfw.py
index 5e727df59f1..2ff17af5328 100644
--- a/torchvision/datasets/lfw.py
+++ b/torchvision/datasets/lfw.py
@@ -51,6 +51,10 @@ def __init__(
         self.data: list[Any] = []
 
         if download:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "LFW dataset is no longer available for download."
+                "Please download the dataset manually and place it in the specified directory"
+            )
             self.download()
 
         if not self._check_integrity():
@@ -90,6 +94,11 @@ def __len__(self) -> int:
 class LFWPeople(_LFW):
     """`LFW <http://vis-www.cs.umass.edu/lfw/>`_ Dataset.
 
+    .. warning:
+
+        The LFW dataset is no longer available for automatic download. Please
+        download it manually and place it in the specified directory.
+
     Args:
         root (str or ``pathlib.Path``): Root directory of dataset where directory
             ``lfw-py`` exists or will be saved to if download is set to True.
@@ -101,9 +110,7 @@ class LFWPeople(_LFW):
             and returns a transformed version. E.g, ``transforms.RandomCrop``
         target_transform (callable, optional): A function/transform that takes in the
             target and transforms it.
-        download (bool, optional): If true, downloads the dataset from the internet and
-            puts it in root directory. If dataset is already downloaded, it is not
-            downloaded again.
+        download (bool, optional): NOT SUPPORTED ANYMORE, leave to False.
         loader (callable, optional): A function to load an image given its path.
             By default, it uses PIL as its image loader, but users could also pass in
             ``torchvision.io.decode_image`` for decoding image data into tensors directly.
@@ -175,6 +182,11 @@ def extra_repr(self) -> str:
 class LFWPairs(_LFW):
     """`LFW <http://vis-www.cs.umass.edu/lfw/>`_ Dataset.
 
+    .. warning:
+
+        The LFW dataset is no longer available for automatic download. Please
+        download it manually and place it in the specified directory.
+
     Args:
         root (str or ``pathlib.Path``): Root directory of dataset where directory
             ``lfw-py`` exists or will be saved to if download is set to True.
@@ -186,9 +198,7 @@ class LFWPairs(_LFW):
             and returns a transformed version. E.g, ``transforms.RandomRotation``
         target_transform (callable, optional): A function/transform that takes in the
             target and transforms it.
-        download (bool, optional): If true, downloads the dataset from the internet and
-            puts it in root directory. If dataset is already downloaded, it is not
-            downloaded again.
+        download (bool, optional): NOT SUPPORTED ANYMORE, leave to False.
         loader (callable, optional): A function to load an image given its path.
             By default, it uses PIL as its image loader, but users could also pass in
             ``torchvision.io.decode_image`` for decoding image data into tensors directly.