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May 5, 2022

Andrew Campbell 

Users can now request that their personal contact information be removed from online search results more easily thanks to Google. A new Google tool can be used by anyone who does not want their phone number, email address, street address, or other personal information to be exposed online: People have the option of having their contact information removed from search results.

Google already had policies in place that allowed users to delete personal information that had been disclosed maliciously, a practice known as doxxing. People can already request that certain types of sensitive content be removed from Google's search results; for example, if they are under the age of 18, they can request that images of themselves be removed from Google's image search results.

In addition, non-consensual sexual or intimate personal photographs, pornographic deepfakes or Photoshops bearing your likeness, and connections to sites with "exploitative removal methods" will all be removed by Google. In 2014, a Spanish man's case established the "right to be forgotten," which was one of the most significant early adjustments to Google's search tools. According to Google, over 650,000 requests to remove individual websites from Google's search results were filed over the next four years.