Google has announced a set of new tools and changes for the protection of children online. It is interesting to note that the announcement was made after Apple recently came up with a similar announcement. Apple’s features were met with mixed reactions as many people accused them of breaching privacy features.
As per the new features introduced by Google, children under the age of 18 can request Google to remove their images from its search results. The images will still remain in their source but will not be easily discoverable by others. Google also plans to automatically enable SafeSearch by default for users under the age of 18. It will also be set by default for new accounts made for children under 18. YouTube’s default upload settings will be set to the highest privacy level for users aged between 13 and 17. It will also disable autoplay for users under the age of 18. Smart devices with Google Assistant will be introduced with new digital wellbeing filters for disallowing podcasts, webpages, and news.
Google Assistant, Google Play, Location History, and Google Workspace for Education will also feature similar changes as per the new announcement. Location history will be turned off on all accounts for users under the age of 18 and there will be no option to turn it on. Google Assistant will disallow ad targeting based on interests, age, and gender for under-18 users.
New materials that smoothen out Google’s data practices will be seen by users all over the world.
