I'm really upset because an old, unflattering picture of me from 2020 keeps showing up when my name is searched online. I've always avoided sharing personal details or images on non-anonymous accounts, yet the only result is this horrendous image from my volleyball club. It brings back memories of my teen awkwardness – and believe me, I wasn't photogenic at all. I've reached out to the Facebook account owner for removal, but I haven't had any luck. I can't find the photo on their page anymore, but it still appears in search results. I've considered filing a takedown request with Google, but it seems like you need to be under threat or facing doxxing for them to consider it. I start university tomorrow, and I'm worried classmates will find this picture and judge me. I really need help figuring out what to do about this situation.
4 Answers
Honestly, no one is going to care about that photo as much as you think. If you've changed so much, people might not even recognize you from it. Plus, who’s really out there searching your full name and address?
Just try to focus on the now! If you've improved, people will be more interested in who you are today than who you were back then. Let that past photo become just that – a thing of the past!
Definitely do the Google takedown request. Also, consider setting up a LinkedIn profile. It doesn’t need to include personal details, but with your full name and school info, it can help push that embarrassing image further down the search results. Plus, you can add a nice photo of yourself now and control your online presence better. Smart move, right?
Thank you, that's pretty clever!
You can speed up the process of removing the image by submitting a request to Google. Check out this link: [https://search.google.com/search-console/remove-outdated-content](https://search.google.com/search-console/remove-outdated-content). It should help de-index the image much faster!
Thank you, kind stranger! I've just submitted the request through the link you gave me. I'm not very savvy with this sort of issue. I saw on the Help section that if the request is approved, any pages that are no longer available will have their search results removed from public viewing. Hope it goes well! <3
Good luck! I hope it works out for you.
They do recognize a slight resemblance, as I've mentioned, and they don't take it nicely which embarrasses me. Please don't assume everyone else deals with the same situations.