Under 18 users can now request Google to take down images

Google is giving more power to teenagers and their guardians for safe internet experience.

Search engine giant Google has announced to bring new policy changes to safeguard young users (under-18) on the internet.

"Technology has helped kids and teens during the pandemic stay in school through lockdowns and maintain connections with family and friends. As kids and teens spend more time online, parents, educators, child safety and privacy experts, and policymakers are rightly concerned about. We’re looking at ways to develop consistent product experiences and user controls for kids and teens globally. Today, we’re announcing a variety of new policies and updates," said Mindy Brooks, GM, Kids and Family, Google Search.

In the coming weeks, Google will give more powers to teenagers on how they can control their images coming in Google Search results.

Currently, only adults have the option to request the removal of content online. Going forward, anyone under the age of 18, or their parent or guardian, can request to take down their images from Google Image results.

However, Google added that it can comply to remove the content from Google search results on its apps such as Chrome, but can't stop the images popping in the net when viewed through other search engines and browsers.

Also, Google advises parents to link their children's devices to their through Family Link. With this, the SafeSearch feature is activated by default to filter out explicit results.
Google Assistant feature is also being improved so that the latter doesn't show or speak anything age-inappropriate content to children.

And, on Play Store, the company will list 'teacher-approved apps" for quality kids content and will be launching a new safety section that will allow parents to know which apps follow Google's Families policies.

Another significant move by Google is to block age-sensitive ad categories from being shown to teens, and it vows to prevent ad targeting based on the age, gender, or interests of people under 18.

Google is bringing new changes to the privacy policy for under 18 users. Picture Credit: Google

Google is also bringing new changes to the Digital Wellbeing app for parents and children. In the coming months, elders will be able to block news, podcasts, and access to webpages on Assistant-enabled smart devices.

And on YouTube, Google will add controls to take a break, bedtime reminders, and turn off autoplay for users under 18.

Google will also change the default upload setting on YoutTube to the most private option available for teens ages 13-17.

Also, the location history of devices linked to children will be switched off at all times.

Furthermore, Google will also show more digital wellbeing features, and provide safeguards and education about commercial content.

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