【Watch Friends】

Google has redesigned its Results About You feature,Watch Friends a tool that lets users have more control over the personal information that shows up in Search.

The new proactive monitoring hub streamlines the company's existing feature, which notifies users of flagged search results containing their personal information, such as phone numbers and addresses, and lets them request removal — all in one place. Directly in Search itself, users can now immediately choose from expanded removal options by simply clicking on the three dots next to any result.

Additionally, users have the option to request an update to an outdated Search result — such as a Search summary that still lists old information for a since-refreshed website — that prompts Google's systems to re-crawl the page for relevant information. To request an update, users can click on those same three dots and select "I want to request a refresh."

Google launched Results About You in 2023, a tool designed to enhance users' online privacy and potentially prevent digital doxxing. At the time, the company released new features to address revenge porn and options to blur explicit images in Search alongside the new monitoring tool, as well.

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Amid a flurry of Search updates (included those powered by generative AI) in 2024, Google announced additional initiatives to tackle misinformation and non-consensual personal imagery in Search, including new policies to curb the proliferation of explicit deepfakes and the prevalence of AI-enhanced misinformation. In December, the company came under fire for updating its platform programing and advertising policies to seemingly allow for "digital fingerprinting" of its users.

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