Google To Honor "Revenge Porn" Removal Requests, Like Other Sensitive Removal Requests

Jun 22, 2015 - 7:58 am 4 by
Filed Under Google

finding pornOn Friday, Amit Singhal, the head of Google Search (we know him as the boss of Matt Cutts back in the day), wrote on the Google blog on policy that Google will enable people to fill out a form and request removal of what is called "revenge porn."

Revenge porn is when people post images of you in a private and intimate setting that is aimed at embarrassing you and taking revenge. Amit explains that revenge porn is when "an ex-partner seeking to publicly humiliate a person by posting private images of them, or hackers stealing and distributing images from victims’ accounts." He added that "some images even end up on “sextortion” sites that force people to pay to have their images removed."

Google will add a new form in the coming weeks to enable users to remove these images from Google's search index. Amit knows "this won’t solve the problem of revenge porn" but it will help.

Google already honors such requests to remove social security numbers, bank information, signatures and other potentially harmful content that can be indexed on people.

Here is more:

Our philosophy has always been that Search should reflect the whole web. But revenge porn images are intensely personal and emotionally damaging, and serve only to degrade the victims -- predominantly women. So going forward, we’ll honor requests from people to remove nude or sexually explicit images shared without their consent from Google Search results. This is a narrow and limited policy, similar to how we treat removal requests for other highly sensitive personal information, such as bank account numbers and signatures, that may surface in our search results.

Forum discussion at Google+.

Image credit to ShutterStock for shocked elderly people.

 

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: Google New York City Maps Bus