Google Drops Report Offensive Images From New Image Search

Jul 28, 2010 - 8:59 am 3 by
Filed Under Google

A week or so ago, Google launched the Google Image Search redesign. With that, they left out an important feature, the ability to report offensive images.

Yesterday, I spotted a thread at Google Web Search Help with someone who complained that a SafeSearch didn't filter out an image. I was about to tell the guy to use the "report offensive image" feature but then I looked for the feature and it was gone.

What I see now:

Report Images on New Google Images

What I saw in the old design:

Report Images on Google

As pointed out in the thread, the feature rarely worked anyway and the better way to remove offensive images was to use the web page removal tool linked to from the SafeSearch page. But that to me is more confusing than the old way.

Will Google bring it back?

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

Google sent me a response, which seems to imply that they forgot and will add something in the near future:

We're still using the SafeSearch filter, set to "moderate" by default, to filter pornographic or offensive images from the search results.

Most of our SafeSearch filtering is done automatically -- user reports just supplement that filter. While no filter is 100 percent accurate, we're continuing to update SafeSearch to keep it as current and comprehensive as possible.

To your question -- in the new UI we didn't include the old reporting link; we're working on a new way for users to report offensive images directly from the new image results grid. We don’t have a specific timeframe for that, but in the meantime, our webpage removal request tool is available as always to report offensive content that SafeSearch may have missed.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Follow

Search Video Recaps

 
Google Core Update Rumbling, Manual Actions FAQs, Core Web Vitals Updates, AI, Bing, Ads & More - YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 18, 2024

Mar 18, 2024 - 4:00 pm
Google Updates

Google Urges Patience As The March 2024 Core Update Continues To Rollout

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:51 am
Google

Official: Google Replaces Perspective Filter With Forums Filter

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Now Offers Additional Review After Appeal Is Denied

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:31 am
Google Maps

EU Searchers Complaining About Google Maps Features Changes Related To DMA

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:21 am
Google

Google Showing Fewer Sitelinks Within Search

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Sliced Images? Can You Optimize Them For Image Search?