Google now offers people under the age of 18 to request the deletion of photos through a form. The Silicon Valley giant asks users who want to remove a photo from search results to fill out a form.
This Wednesday, October 27, 2021, Google announced the implementation of a new option dedicated to respecting the privacy of children and adolescents. “Anyone under the age of 18, or their parent or guardian, can now request removal of their images from search results,” Google says in a blog post.
Concretely, the search giant now allows all minors to easily claim deletion of their photos from Google Images. For the record, the option was announced in August 2021. It took several additional months for Google to implement the functionality.
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Google specifies that “these images will no longer appear in the Images tab or as thumbnails in any feature of Google search”. On the other hand, this process is not sufficient to delete a picture from the internet. To obtain the deletion of the photo, minors or their guardian should contact the individual who manages the website that hosts it. To claim the removal of a minor's photos from Google search results, simply follow the maneuver below:
- Submit your removal request using the form available at this address
- Fill out the form indicating the URL of all the images you want to remove
- Also provide the URL of all search results pages that contain the images
- Also provide a list of search terms that highlight the photos
Once the form is completed, Google will review the request. “We will notify you once we have removed the image, if the request meets our requirements,” says Google. The firm does not specify which are the deletion criteria, which represents a violation of the GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation. This regulation provides that any Internet user can obtain the deletion of a photo which features him when the request is made.
