GOOGLE TO LAUNCH ‘RESULTS ABOUT YOU’ TOOL TO REMOVE PERSONAL INFO FROM SEARCH

Thu 29 September 2022:

Google announced on Thursday that beginning early next year, it will notify users if their personal information, such as phone number, email address, or home address, appears in Search results.

According to the company, the ‘Results about you’ tool will make it easier to request that personal information be removed from Google Search.

“Early next year, you’ll also be able to opt into alerts if new results appear with personally identifying information, so you can quickly request their removal from Google Search,” said the tech giant.

USING GOOGLE SEARCH, PEOPLE CAN DIRECTLY REMOVE THEIR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Apart from the new tool, the removal requests can also be done globally by anyone using Google’s form-based system.

The feature has already started appearing for some Search users.

With this new tool, if you find your personal information like home address, email address, phone number or any other information on Google Search, just click on the three-dot overflow menu that appears in the top-right corner of each result.

To remove any personal identifiable information (PII), you must currently go to a Google Support page and fill out a form with the URL you want removed from the search results.

GOOGLE PAYS BILLIONS ANNUALLY TO REMAIN TOP SEARCH ENGINE

Removing contact information from Google Search does not remove it from the web, so “if you’re comfortable doing so,” contact the hosting site directly.

Google updated its policies regarding the removal of personally identifiable information earlier this year.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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