Revenge porn — explicit images or videos uploaded to shame or extort an ex — has been a scourge on the internet for years. Today, Google, whose search has become a defacto vector for revenge porn, said Friday it will join Twitter and Reddit in stopping the spread of the stuff.
In a post on Google's public policy blog, Amit Singhal, SVP of search, announced that the company will remove revenge porn from search results:
Our philosophy has always been that Search should reflect the whole web. But revenge porn images are intensely personal and emotionally damaging, and serve only to degrade the victims—predominantly women. So going forward, we'll honor requests from people to remove nude or sexually explicit images shared without their consent from Google Search results.
Google's move against revenge porn could do much to slow its proliferation on the Internet. It comes ahead of the introduction of federal anti-revenge porn bill quarterbacked by Congresswoman Jackie Speier of California.