Khaberni - Google offers a setting called "Personal Info Removal," which protects privacy and enables the automatic removal of personal information from Google search results.
This setting is located within your Google account, allowing the removal of phone numbers, email addresses, or any other data displayed in public search results. Despite its importance, it is often overlooked by users.
The significance of this setting comes amid rising concerns about data privacy on the internet, especially with millions relying on Google's daily services like search, email, and YouTube.
As web services proliferate, the data users typically enter is measured by multiple entities, increasing the likelihood of its use in advertisements or online behavior analytics.
Data Collection
Even though Google has recently provided more privacy control tools, experts say users are still less protected than ever before.
Digital security specialists have found that a large number of settings within a Google account can be adjusted to protect personal information, yet a small percentage of users actually use these tools compared to the active users on digital platforms.
The privacy settings include tools to protect activities on the network, control the types of data saved, manage personalized ads, and prevent cookies and trackable content across sites.
However, the issue of data privacy is greater than just adjusting settings, as experts believe that data collection continues regardless of the settings users are concerned with improving.
Incomprehensible Settings
Digital security specialists indicate that many people do not read or understand privacy messages and accompanying ads, leading them to accept without considering the details or available control options.
They explain that having advanced and recent settings is not enough without real user awareness of how to properly use them to protect their personal data. With Google services permeating our daily lives, it becomes important to ensure that each user adjusts the basic settings before it's too late.
Digital Usage Culture
Specialists say the challenge lies not only with the presence of privacy settings but in the culture of digital usage itself, as users often sacrifice their privacy for easy access to free services, reflecting a disregard for what happens to their data thereafter.
This raises an important question, "Is digital privacy a fortress that can be protected through settings, or is it a cost that must be paid for services?"
How to Activate
To access the "Personal Info Removal" setting, open any browser on your device and log in to your Google account, then navigate to the Google Account page: https://myaccount.google.com/, select Data & Privacy from the sidebar menu and scroll down to the section Things you’ve shared or Information you share.
Then find Personal info removal from Google Search, click on the option, and start entering the information you wish to remove from the search results, then follow the instructions to submit the request.
Google may take some time to process the removal request, and although this setting does not delete the data from the internet entirely, it removes it from Google's search results. Some data may still be available on other sites, and you will need to contact those sites to remove it permanently.
