Google is launching new privacy tools to allow users to have more control over unwanted personal images online and ensure explicit or graphic photos do not appear easily in search results, according to The Guardian.
Updates to Google policies on personal explicit images mean that users will be able to remove non-consensual and explicit imagery of themselves that they no longer wish to be visible in searches.
The update means that even if an individual created and uploaded explicit content to a website, and no longer wishes for it to be available on search, they will be able to request to remove it from Google search. The forms to submit requests have also been made more simple. The policy does not apply to images users are currently and actively commercialising.
The policy also applies to websites containing personal information.
Google will also roll out a new dashboard, only available in the US in English initially, that will let users know search results that display their contact information. Users can then quickly request the removal of these results from Google. The tool will also send a notification when new results with a user’s information pop up in search.
Google initially announced this safeguard in February and it will be launched globally in August. This represents a difference from Google’s previous policy, which was quite opaque and cumbersome as regards requests for removing unwanted material.
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