Google Gives New Option To Remove Your Personal Phone Number From Search

Option to remove personally identifiable information in Google Search (Photo: Google)

JAKARTA - Online privacy and security go hand in hand. When using the internet, it is important that you have control over how your sensitive and personally identifiable information can be found.

Google has a set of policies that allow you to request the removal of certain content. On Wednesday, April 27, Google released a new option to remove your personally identifiable information from Search.

"At Google Search, we already have a set of policies that allow people to request the removal of certain content from Search, with a focus on highly private content that, if public, could cause direct harm to people," said Michelle Search, Global Policy Leader for Google Search. Chang in the blog.

For years, people were able to request the removal of certain personally identifiable sensitive information from Search, for example in the case of doxxing, or information such as bank account or credit card numbers that could be used for financial fraud.

Under this new policy expansion, people can now request the removal of additional types of information when they find it in Search results, including personal contact information such as phone numbers, email addresses, or physical addresses.

"This policy also allows for the removal of additional information that could pose an identity theft risk, such as confidential login credentials, when it appears in Search results."

The availability of personal contact information online can be distracting and can be used in harmful ways. "People have given us feedback that they want the ability to remove this type of information from Search in some cases," continued Chang.

In response to such requests, Google will evaluate all content on its web pages to ensure that they are not limiting the availability of other widely useful information, such as news.

"We will also evaluate whether the content appears as part of public records on government websites or official sources. In such cases, we will not carry out removal," he explained.

Google promises to always look for new ways to ensure its policies and built-in safeguards reflect the evolving needs of society and are easy to use.

What Google did recently is roll out a new policy to allow people under the age of 18 (or their parent or guardian) to request removal of their image from Google Search results.

"We believe this update is an important step towards achieving that goal and giving people the tools they need to protect their security and privacy online."