Google Will Remove 'Revenge Porn' From Its Search Results

In a blog entry posted on Friday, Google Senior Vice President Amit Singhal, announced that the company would remove revenge porn from its search results. Singhal wrote:

“Our philosophy has always been that Search should reflect the whole web. But revenge porn images are intensely personal and emotionally damaging, and serve only to degrade the victims—predominantly women. So going forward, we’ll honor requests from people to remove nude or sexually explicit images shared without their consent from Google Search results.”

This is a reversal of the company’s regular policies which previously had removed search results only with a valid legal reason. That policy included exceptions for images deemed child pornography and sensitive personal information like bank account and social security numbers.

Activists have applauded Google’s decision. Danielle Citron, a University of Maryland professor, told USA Today:

“What victims will often tell you and what they tell me is that what they want most is not to have search results where their employers, clients and colleagues can Google them and see these nude photos. It’s not just humiliating, it wrecks their chances for employment. It makes them undatable and unemployable.”

Revenge porn victims will be able to submit requests through an online form that Google will make available in the next few weeks.