How to ask Google to remove deepfake porn results from Google Search

The internet is filled with deepfakes — and the vast majority of them are nude photos.

According to a report by Home Security Heroes, deepfake porn accounts for 98% of all deepfake videos online. Thanks to easy-to-use and freely available generative AI tools, the number of deepfakes online – many of which are not consensual – increased by 550% from 2019 to 2023.

While laws against non-consensual deepfakes, at least in the US, are lagging behind, deepfakes have become a little easier to spot thanks to new tools in Google Search.

Google has recently made changes to Search to combat deepfake porn, including adjustments to the search ranking algorithm designed to reduce deepfake content in Search. The company has also introduced a quick way to process requests to remove non-consensual deepfake porn results from Search.

Here’s how to use it.

Request a deletion

The easiest way to request that a deepfake non-consensual porn result – a webpage, image or video – be removed from Google Search is to use this web form. Note that there is a separate form for child sexual abuse imagery, and the targeted content must meet Google’s criteria for removal, as detailed below:

• it is nude, intimate or sexually explicit (for example, images or videos of you) and is distributed without permission; or
• it is fake or falsely depicts you nude or in a sexually explicit situation; or
• It falsely associates you or your name with sex work.

Click the “Content contains nudity or sexual content” option, then go to the next page.

At this step, select “Content falsely depicts me in a sexual act or intimate situation. (This is sometimes known as “deep fake” or “simulated pornography”):”.

On the last page of the form, after entering your name, country of residence, and contact email, you must indicate whether the deepfake content to be removed is you or someone else. Google allows others to remove content on someone’s behalf, but only if that person is an “authorized representative” who explains how he or she has the right.

The next section is the Content Information section. Here, you must provide the URLs of the deepfake results to be removed (up to a maximum of 1,000), the URLs of the Google search results where the content appears (again, up to a maximum of 1,000), and the search terms that return deepfakes. Finally, you must upload one or more screenshots of the content you are reporting and any additional information that may help explain the situation.

Steps after submitting a request

After submitting a request, you will receive an automated email confirmation. The request will be reviewed, after which Google may request more information (such as additional URLs). You will receive notification of any action taken, and, if the request does not meet Google’s requirements for removal, a follow-up message explaining the reasons.

Requests that have been denied may be resubmitted with new supporting materials.

Google says that when a person requests the removal of non-consent deepfake porn results in Search, the company’s systems will also aim to filter out explicit results on all similar searches about that person. In addition, Google says that when an image is removed from Search under Google’s policies, its systems will scan and remove any duplicates of that image.

“These safeguards have already proven successful in addressing other types of non-consensual images, and we’ve now built similar capabilities for fake explicit images as well,” Google wrote in a blog post. “These efforts are designed to give people additional peace of mind, especially if they’re concerned about being exposed to similar content about them in the future.”