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- Google is finally allowing people to remove their personal data from search results.
- After years and years of people asking for this ability, here’s how you can finally do it.
- Read more news about technology here.
For the past decade or so, thousands of people on the internet have been asking Google how to remove their personal data and information from the company’s web search results.
And for the past decade or so, Google made the process of removing things like your phone number, email address, or physical address almost impossible.
Until now.
In a blog post published last week, Google announced that no longer will they require you to be in some sort of dire situation (doxxing, identity theft, etc.) in order to have your personal information removed from search results.
“Have you ever searched for your name online to see what other people can find out about you?” wrote Danielle Romain, Google’s vice president of trust. “You’re not alone. And for many people, a key element of feeling safer and more private online is having greater control over where their sensitive, personally-identifiable information can be found.”
She says this is the reason why, after years and years of people asking for it, Google has introduced a simple new tool that controls how much of your personal information can be discovered using Google search.
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Here’s how to remove your personal data from appearing in Google search results
“When you’re searching on Google and find results about you that contain your phone number, home address, or email address, you’ll be able to quickly request their removal from Google Search — right as you find them. With this new tool, you can request removal of your contact details from Search with a few clicks, and you’ll also be able to easily monitor the status of these removal requests,” explained Romain.
To make a removal request, all you have to do is click the three dots next to your Google search results.
If you don’t see this feature on your internet device right now, she promises that it “will be available in the coming months.” Until then, you can still make a request for your personal information to be removed from Google search results here.
While most removal requests will be honored, not every request is accepted.
“It’s important to note that when we receive removal requests, we will evaluate all content on the web page to ensure that we’re not limiting the availability of other information that is broadly useful, for instance in news articles,” Romain wrote.