Google has announced new options for removing your personally-identifiable information such as phone number, and address from Search results. For those who don’t know, till now, Google allowed people to request the removal of certain sensitive, personally identifiable information from Search. For example, information like bank accounts or credit card numbers that could be used for financial fraud. Now, the company is expanding that policy so that people can request removals of additional types of information from Search results, including personal contact information like a phone number, email address, or physical address.
As per Google’s blog, “the policy also allows for the removal of additional information that may pose a risk for identity theft, such as confidential log-in credentials, when it appears in Search results.” The policy update was announced in a Twitter post by Google SeachLiaison’s official handle. “You can now request removal of personal contact information like a phone number, email address, or physical address, as well as login info, from Google Search.” the tweet read.
How will Google remove your personal information from Search results
As mentioned by Google in its blog post, when the company receives removal requests, it will evaluate all content on the web page to make sure the availability of other useful information is not hampered. The company will also evaluate if the content appears as part of the public record on the sites of government or official sources. In such cases, Google won’t make removals.
It is worth noting that removing content from Google Search won’t remove it from the internet. In addition to this update, the company recently rolled out a new policy to enable people under the age of 18 (or their parent or guardian) to request the removal of their images from Google Search results.