Lockdown Your Social Media Accounts Or Delete Primary Accounts Entirely
: In the Settings tab, you can download all of Facebook’s information on you.
You should also take the opportunity to lock down your account. In the Privacy tab, you should restrict your posts to ‘friends only,’ limit your past posts, and you can also decide to disallow lookups through your provided email address or phone number.
An important element that shouldn’t be overlooked here is the option to remove your Facebook profile from search engine results outside of the social networking platform.
Remove Old Social Media And Blog Posts
Is it really necessary to preserve what you had for breakfast one morning in 2017 or your review on a now-defunct retail shop near you? Probably not.
We are all responsible for the information we post online, but it does not have to stay there once it is posted. Effort and time are required to comb through old posts, but the result is worth it, and this may also train you to be more selective about the information you share in the future.
For A Quick Fix Use A Service
There are several services available out there in which you can pay to keep your information away from data brokers.
One such example is DeleteMe, a paid subscription service that maintains tabs on data collectors and removes data including names, current and past addresses, dates of birth, and aliases on your behalf.
In turn, this can keep your private information off search results and away from platforms such as open people search databases.
When it comes to mailing lists, services such as unroll.me can list everything you are subscribed to, making the job of unsubscribing from newsletters, company updates, and more far easier.
However, this service is not currently available to those in the EU due to GDPR regulations.
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And If I Can’t Delete Embarrassing Content
Oversharing is never a good idea. However, suppose you have come across embarrassing forum posts or messages that you do not have the privileges required to delete, and the only other option is to contact organizations and webmasters directly?
When you contact them, make sure you include a link to the content you are concerned about, give your reasons, and hope they agree to delete it. However, do not expect an immediate response.
How To Delete Yourself From Internet Search Results And Hide Your Identity Online
Go incognito.
There is now a very thin line, easily broken, which separates our physical and digital identities.
Social networks have evolved from the days of MySpace to valuable, data-slurping machines that have information on everything from our friends and family to our voting habits.
When you apply for a new job, many employers will try to find and evaluate your social media presence to ascertain if you are a suitable candidate. Advertisers will scrape publicly-available information on you, your social profiles, and your search history for targeted marketing.
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Find Your Old Accounts And Deletion Options
To find your old accounts, visit Have I Been Pwned, check the lists of connected apps in your Facebook and Google accounts, and if you have a password manager, they will store the credentials of accounts you have used since signing up.
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You may have to manually login to each account you want to remove and, depending on the service, delete them from there — or you may have to contact the service provider with the request, such as via email or by submitting a ticket. If you aren’t able to delete your account, remove any sensitive information and if you can change the linked email address, name, and any other identifying factors.
Justdeleteme.com is a helpful directory containing guides to removing accounts from countless online services and a rating on how hard it is to remove: ranging from “easy” to “impossible.”
Another alternative is Account Killer.
Ask Us To Remove The Deleted Image From Search Results
After the site owner removes the image from their site, the image will eventually be removed from Google Search as part of our regular updating process. You can also request to remove the image from Google Search.
Part 1: Copy the image link address
Part 2: Request removal from Google search results
You can check the status of your request on the Remove outdated content page.
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You May Have The Right To Be Forgotten
In the EU, citizens can request the removal of information from Google search results.
After filling in this form, requests are reviewed by Google employees on a case-by-case basis. You must provide the specific URLs you want de-listed, the search queries related to these URLs and you must explain why the tech giant should agree to your request.
“Our professional reviewers will manually review your request. Broadly, the reviewer will consider whether and how the information may be in the public interest and weigh this against your rights under the applicable data protection law,” Google says. “There are several reasons why information may be in the public interest. As part of the balancing exercise, Google looks to a number of different sources, such as the guidelines developed by European data protection regulators.”
Google may not accept every request to remove links relating to you. Reasons given for refusal include technical reasons, duplicate URLs, information deemed “strongly in the public interest,” and whether or not the content on a web page relates to professional lives, past convictions, work positions, or self-authored content.
At the time of writing, Google has received a total of 1.26 million de-listing requests and almost five million URL de-listing requests.
Use A Virtual Private Network
A VPN can mask your IP address and create a private tunnel between yourself and online services. This tunnel ensures that data and communication packets sent between a browser and server are encrypted, which in turn can prevent eavesdroppers from harvesting your information or tracking your online activity.
There are services out there that are both subscription-based and free. It is generally better to sign up for a paid service if you can — no VPN service is truly ‘free’ given the cost to create and maintain the infrastructure required to route traffic. Therefore your data may be used or sold to third parties in return for VPN services.
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Ask Google To Remove Specific Images From Search Results
We recognize that it can be distressing to find certain images of yourself or your information in search results.
In limited cases, Google may remove links to the image from Google Search. This doesnt remove the image from the site it was linked from.
To support you through the removal request process of such images and videos from Google search results, follow the steps below for your situation.
We may remove information that we classify as presenting a risk of identity theft or fraud to the individual.
Requirements
For us to consider the content for removal, it must pertain to the following types of information:
- Confidential national identification numbers like U.S. Social Security Number, Argentine Single Tax Identification Number, Brazil Cadastro de pessoas Físicas, Korea Resident Registration Number, China Resident Identity Card, etc.
- Bank account number
- Confidential personal medical records
Request to remove image from Google Search
If the image meets the requirements above, you or an authorized representative can request a removal of the image from Google search results. To make a request, click the button below.
We may remove intimate or explicit images and videos that were shared without consent.
Important: To report imagery that is sexually abusive towards children, follow the steps to report child sexual abuse imagery.
Requirements
Request to remove image from Google Search
Requirements
Content Policies And User Bans
In October 2012, Pinterest added a new feature allowing users to report others for negative and offensive activity or block other users if they do not want to view their content, a bid that the company said aimed to keep the site “positive and respectful.”
In December 2018, Pinterest began to take steps to block health misinformation from its recommendations engine, and blocked various searches, content, and user accounts that related to, or promoted, unproved and disproven cancer treatments. The company said it also blocked multiple accounts that linked to external websites that sold supplements and other products that were not scientifically validated. In January 2019, Pinterest stopped returning search results relating to vaccines, in an effort to somehow slow the increase of anti-vaccination content on the platform. Prior to the measure, the company said that the majority of vaccination-related images shared on the platform were anti-vaccination, contradicting the scientific research establishing the safety of vaccines.
In June 2019, anti-abortion group Live Action was banned from Pinterest the company said the permanent suspension was imposed for spreading “harmful misinformation, includes medical misinformation and conspiracies that turn individuals and facilities into targets for harassment or violence.”
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Block Or Unblock People’s Accounts
To avoid unwanted interactions, you can block other users in certain Google products, like Hangouts or Photos. When you block, you block a specific Google Account.
To block another person’s account, use the “Block” action in one of these products.
Block a user profile
You can use a mobile device to block someone from being able to find your profile on Maps. Google Maps won’t let them know you blocked them. When you block a user profile in Google Maps, that person’s account is blocked in all products listed on this page.
Important: People you block may still be able to find your contributions on Google Maps, but they won’t find them on your profile. Also, if a blocked user is not signed into the account that you blocked, they’ll be able to find your contributions.
Tip: If you’re following someone and no longer want to see their content, you can unfollow them rather than block them.
Block a location request
When you block a location request in Google Maps, the person’s account is blocked in all products listed on this page.
Benefits Of Blocking Someone On Google Photos
If you block someone on Google Photos, it does come with its set of benefits and disadvantages.
Firstly, blocking someone will prevent the person from networking with you on other Google services such as Google Maps, YouTube, Hangouts, Google Drive and Google Chat. Hence, a single block will apply to all of the platforms.
Although the blocked user will not be able to view your photos and videos, they might still get access to some of the content. But the situation is only possible if the user has a direct link to your album.
If you block a contributor to your Google Photos album, it will remove their content and photos from the album. If the blocked individual is an album owner, your content will be removed from the album if you are a contributor.
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Google And Other Search Engines
The Google search engine, among others such as Bing and Yandex, can be used to uncover exactly what information about you is public and what the average person can quickly find out without the need for advanced tools, social engineering, or Open-source intelligence .
Once you know what is online, you can start tackling the problem. Run a quick search and note any website domains that flag you, social media account links, YouTube videos, and anything else of interest.
- Quick tip: To stop your search queries from being tracked, switch to DuckDuckGo.
The Most Permanent Measure
Starting from scratch may seem extreme, but it could be worth considering in some cases. The outright deletion of email accounts, social media, and e-commerce services won’t immediately destroy all data or search results connected to them, but it will, over time, make them less likely to appear.
Just make sure that before you take this irrevocable step, you have backed up any data that you want to keep, such as irreplaceable photos you have uploaded to social media or document scans stashed away in your email inbox.
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How To Block A User In A Shared Google Photos Album
You can block anyone on Google photos, whether its an individual you share the album with or the owner. You can also block someone if you and the other person are contributors to a third-party album.
Contact The Site Owner To Take Down The Image
Here are a few ways you can contact the owner of a site:
- Contact us link: Find a Contact us link or an email address for the site owner. This information is often on the site’s homepage.
- Find contact information using Whois: You can perform a Whois search for the site owner using Google. Go to google.com and search for whois www.example.com. The email address to contact the site owner can often be found under “Registrant Email” or “Administrative Contact.”
- Contact the site’s hosting company: The Whois search result usually includes information about who hosts the website. If you’re unable to reach the site owner, try to contact the site’s hosting company.
Note: If you prefer not to contact the site owner or are unable to get the image removed from a site, check other .
Tips to remove an image from a site
To remove an image from Google search results that was uploaded to a social media platform like Facebook and Twitter, you must first remove the image from the platform.
- If you have access to the account that uploaded the image, remove the image from the platform.
- If you dont have access to that account, please contact the social media company for help with removing the image.
Check the social media platforms help center
Most social media platforms have help resources on their image removal policies and processes.
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Remove An Image From Google
If you want to remove a photo from Google search results, you usually need to contact the site owner, the person who owns the site that has the image.
Important: Most images that show up in Google search results are from websites that arent owned by Google, so we cant remove these images from the web. This is why you should first contact the site’s owner to ask them to remove the image.
What About Tor
If you are inclined to further anonymize your footprint, consider using the Tor onion router network. The privacy-conscious activists use Tor, and those seeking a means to circumvent censorship barriers such as the Great Firewall of China. If you use the network to browse the Internet, anyone attempting to monitor you would be met with a series of nodes used to divert your encrypted traffic, making it very difficult to trace you back to an original IP address.
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