New Google tools help find and request the removal of contacts and personal photos from the search engine.
The existence of the internet is making many people miserable because private images appear publicly somewhere in the online world. Besides embarrassing users, it also leads to the possibility of identity theft or fraud. That’s why Google has just announced new improvements in search results to partially solve this anxiety.
In a recent blog post, Google said it is trying to make it easier for users to find and remove the personal information that appears in searches. The search giant has introduced new security tools and features designed to help better protect personal information.
The first is a new dashboard for a feature called Results about you. Launched in 2022, this feature allows users to track any personal details that appear in search results so that they can be requested by Google to remove them. With the new update, the dashboard will not only help find those details but will also allow users to request their removal through the same tool. The feature will also warn if new details about them appear in public search results.
Users can access the dashboard from the web by visiting the About You website ( https://myactivity.google .com /results-about-you ) or from the Google mobile app using by clicking on the account picture > select Results about you. At this screen, click Google search for your name, it may be necessary to include the city and area where you live to narrow down the results.
If the search reveals an email address, phone number, or home address, users can ask Google to delete the data by tapping the three-dot icon and selecting Delete results > choose why you want to delete data, finally, complete the steps and then send the request to Google.
Google will review whether it meets the policy requirements for removal. This process may take several days. If the request is approved, Google will remove the specific result the user cited.
Users can also check their requests in the dashboard, which shows all request types as in progress, approved, rejected, and incomplete.
However, removing items from Google search won’t make the content disappear entirely from the internet. People can still find it by going directly to the source website or by using another search engine.
Google has long allowed users to request the removal of non-consensual pornographic images appearing of them in public search results. As an example cited in the blog post, it is possible that a user created and uploaded inappropriate content to a website and then deleted it.