How to remove your child's photos from Google Search

Open the result and check whether the photo is still on the website. If it is, you have two requests to make: one to whoever published it, and one to Google to stop showing it in search. Removing a Google result doesn't delete the website's copy. Google's explanation

If the website has already taken the photo down, you need a different Google form: the one for refreshing outdated results. Using the wrong form can leave you waiting for a request that doesn't address the problem.

Choose the right removal request

For the minors-image request, the person pictured must be under 18, or have died before turning 18. They can apply themselves, or a representative such as a parent can apply for them. Google can make exceptions for newsworthiness or public interest.

The personal-information route covers categories including home addresses, phone numbers, government ID numbers and medical records, as well as doxxing. A name on its own isn't one of those categories. If your child's face is the issue, use the minors-image route; if their address is also exposed, include that in the appropriate personal-information request.

Get the address of the image itself

Google asks for the link identifying the particular picture. Copying the address at the top of a search-results page gives it the whole search instead. Copying the school newsletter's address may give it a page containing several photos.

On a computer, get the image link like this:

1. Find the picture in Google Images and click it.
2. In the panel that opens on the right, choose More → Share.
3. Under Click to copy link, click the URL. Google's current instructions say this link begins with https://share.google/.

The same Google help page has Android and iPhone instructions if you're on your phone.

Keep the publisher's page address too. Google needs the image link for its request, while the school or website owner needs to know where they published the photo. If you're asking about several pictures, put each link on its own line with a description so you can tell them apart later.

Submit the request, then follow the reply

Open Google's content-removal form and choose the route for images of someone under 18. Have these ready:

• The name and current age of the person pictured.
• Your relationship to them and your contact email.
• The individual image links from the previous step.

If the form rejects a link, return to that image in Google Images and copy it again. Check that you haven't pasted a whole search-results address, the publisher's home page or a sentence containing the link. If it still fails, keep the error text with the link so you can explain the specific problem when following up.

Google sends an automated email when it receives a request. Keep that email: later replies may ask you to supply missing information or correct the links. A receipt means the request arrived; the removal decision comes afterwards.

If Google refuses, read the reason before applying again. Its form says you can resubmit with additional supporting material. Answer the point in the refusal, such as missing information about the image or the person pictured, rather than sending the same request again.

For sexualized or abusive images of a child, use the specialist route linked from Google's personal-content removal page. Don't download, screenshot or forward that material to build your request.

Check which part Google agreed to remove

Google's minors-image policy removes the image from Image Search and thumbnails elsewhere in Google Search. That isn't a promise to remove the page's written mention of your child, erase the source file, or remove results from another search engine. Scope of the minors-image policy

Read the decision against the links you submitted. If the image is gone but a text result still shows a name or school, record that as a separate issue and ask the publisher to change the text. Use the personal-information route above if the remaining details meet its criteria. If you also found the page through another search engine, check that result separately.

Contact the person who can take the original down

You can contact the publisher while Google reviews the request. Send the page address and ask for the image file to be removed too:

Please remove the photo of my child from this page: [page address]. Please also remove the image file and any copies on your social accounts. We don't want our child's image published online. Please let me know when this is done.

If you'd accept a version with your child cropped out, add that. Otherwise the request above asks for removal, including the file that may still open even after someone takes it out of the article.

After their reply, reopen the page and any image-file link you have. If the photo remains in an album or a newsletter, send that address back in the same conversation. For a school that keeps publishing new photos, also update the photo-consent arrangement.

Facebook and Instagram uploads need their own requests. The Facebook and Instagram guides cover those controls, including when the uploader won't cooperate.

When the original is gone but Google still shows it

Use Google's outdated-content refresh tool when the source has been removed or changed but the search result still shows the old version. Follow the page or image option for the result you want refreshed, and keep its request reference.

This tool checks for a change at the source. If the photo is still published exactly as before, refreshing the result won't remove it; you need the minors-image or personal-information request instead.

When you check the result later, open the original site as well. If the file is gone and Google still shows it, follow the refresh request. If the file is still there, follow up with the publisher. Keeping those two links together tells you which part still needs work.