Tech giant Google on Tuesday unveiled a series of online safety measures, especially targeting the teenagers and children to make internet browsing safe for them. One of these features is making it easier for families to request removal of a child’s photos from image search requests.
“As kids and teens spend more time online, parents, educators, child safety and privacy experts, and policy makers are rightly concerned about how to keep them safe,” said Google product and user experience director Mindy Brooks.
Here’s how the image request can be sent to Google:
The company said that it will allow users under the age of 18 to request for removal of their images from Google search results.
It also said that the parents or guardians can also make the request on behalf of children if they are not able to do so on their own.
Google, however, said that the image won’t be removed from the web. “Of course, removing an image from search doesn’t remove it from the web, but we believe this change will help give young people more control of their images online,” said Brooks.
The search giant is also making “safe search” as the default setting for users under 18, which up to now had been the case only for under-13 users.
The changes are also being implemented on its apps including YouTube, Google Search and Google Assistant. On YouTube, content from 13- to 17-year-olds will be private by default, the tech giant said.
YouTube will also, by default, include reminders for younger users to take a break and to go to sleep at bedtime as well as disable the autoplay of consecutive videos.
When it comes to advertisements, Google is changing the way it shows ads to minors, blocking any “age-sensitive” categories and banning targeting based on the age, gender or interests of people under 18.
The move, according to the company, will help younger users make informed decisions about their online footprint and digital privacy.
The company also said it would no longer collect location history for the age group.
Protections for children in online services have gained a lot of attention in Silicon Valley lately. Apple last week announced new protections against explicit images in its Messages app.
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