• This “results about you” feature was first revealed at Google I/O earlier in the year to address privacy and personal information.
• It will allow to remove Google Search results that contain their address, contact number and other identifiable information.
• The feature has been spotted rolling out via the Google app on Android devices.

At Google I/O earlier in the year, the company revealed a rather interesting tool it was developing in the aid of privacy. This tool would allow people to remove search results about them, specifically in terms of personal identifiable information (PII) that they wished to not be accessible.

While this tool is yet to be rolled out globally, 9to5Google has noticed that a selected number of users have gained access to it via the Google app on their Android device. The site explains that heading into the app and clicking on your profile avatar will bring up a new “Results About You” option.

Clicking on this option will then send you to another page via your browser to explain how PII can be removed.

You can then start browsing to see what information is publicly accessible via Google’s Search and select what you wish to be remove. Once selected, you will be able to track the status of said removal on the aforementioned Results About You tab in the Google app.

“It’s important to note that when we receive removal requests, we will evaluate all content on the web page to ensure that we’re not limiting the availability of other information that is broadly useful, for instance in news articles. And of course, removing contact information from Google Search doesn’t remove it from the web, which is why you may wish to contact the hosting site directly, if you’re comfortable doing so,” noted Google of the feature earlier in the year.

There is also the ability to explain to the company why you wish to have any information removed, with options like “It shows my personal contact info” and “It shows my contact info with an intent to harm me” available.

The latter is quite important given the recent rise in targeted harassment online and doxxing.

At the time of writing, only a handful of users in the US and Europe appear to have access to this feature, so it remains to be seen when it will make its way to our neck of the woods.

[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]