What Major Step Has Google Taken Towards Curbing Online Harassment?

Safety and security are the cornerstones of this data-driven, stat-obsessed age- right? What’s out there is actually information galore whilst we are simply players and if when not treading cautiously, then simply pawns in a large illicit affair that has many hawks and sharks no matter how you see them and what you call them.

What’s important, therefore, is to have the realization that in this cesspool of information that’s available at the very click of a button, we are just as accessible to others, who could possibly be miscreants as we are one-on-one with information.

Protecting oneself; i.e., one’s safety is of prime importance. So how does one do that? Google has already shown our Twitter and Facebook photos on the image search portion of its mammoth search engine.

For instance, if you have a LinkedIn profile, one that carries your image (regardless of what it may be between a professional or casual shot), the fact that your image exists next to your very name is accessible to people when they type your name on the Google search engine.

Trouble ensues and most certainly can when those who are in the know of things and keeping an eye for murky reasons end up using our images, without our consent, for whatever heinous it is that they are pursuing as their agenda.

Having said that, the need to protect one’s identity and have ‘safe travels’ every single day while we traverse on the Google stratosphere is important. And for that, the famous Sergey Brin and Larry Page founded company has taken a bold new step which will ultimately help curb online harassment that is such a turn off and in many cases, a great nadir of our times.

Now, how can online harassment be looked after with a view to curb it?

Having said all of the above, how is it actually that Google is stepping up the cause to protect one’s integrity online by way of curbing the menace called online harassment?

Read on to find out from the following excerpts taken from a news report on India Today:

“Google will remove images of current minors (meaning anyone below the age of 18) from Search results at the request of the minor or their parent or guardian, with the exception of cases of compelling public interest or newsworthiness.”

That’s not all; read the following to get a deeper understanding of the said matter:

It is important to note that users cannot request to remove a web URL, only the image can be removed from the search results. Google has made it clear that even if it removes an image from Google Search, it may still exist on the web. This means someone can still view the image on the web URL that hosts it, or find it through social media. This means that the image will still be discoverable on other platforms even if Google removes it. Currently, users can only request Google to remove images of a minor or user who has not turned 18.

All the above said, kindly follow the below mentioned steps to remove images from your ‘Search’, which from today, you can request Google to do so:

—The image URL for the photo(s) in question
—The search terms and URLs that cause the photo(s) to appear
—A screenshot of the photo(s)
—An explanation of why you want the photo(s) remove