You can now ask Google to remove search results that are too personal or doxxing
Google is rolling out the option to control your personally identifiable information (PII) in its search results, just as promised during the I/O conference in May. The new feature is now present in the Google app on your Android phone when you tap your avatar, under the "Results about you" menu option.
How to remove personal information from Google search
In a nutshell, if you spot sensitive private info about you while scouring the Interwebs, you can now tap on the 3-dot menu in the search listing and choose the new "Remove result" option.
In the existing Results about You option, you can now follow how Google is progressing with the removal requests which can be filtered by categories like "In progress" or "Approved".
You can also report personally identifiable information or doxxing entries that you want removed via Google's dedicated website and the search giant will grant the request if the website lists your:
- Confidential government identification (ID) numbers, like US Social Security Number, Argentine Single Tax Identification Number, Brazil Cadastro de pessoas Físicas, Korea Resident Registration Number, or China Resident Identity Card
- Bank account numbers
- Credit card numbers
- Images of handwritten signatures
- Images of ID docs
- Highly personal, restricted, and official records, like medical records
- Personal contact info (physical addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses)
- Confidential login credentials
The caveat is, of course, that it only blocks people from seeing the website appear in the Google search results, but it remains hosted where it's being hosted and you have to contact the owner directly if you want it scrubbed from the Internet as well.
In order to identify the pertinence of the request, the Google website form or app requires that you submit screenshots of the search results and content as a "web page can have content that’s relevant to multiple individuals." "Screenshots of the content that’s related to you helps us identify the offending content for removal," continues Google.
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Things that are NOT allowed: