My company is legally required to publish a phone number for GDPR-related questions, but the number listed is my personal phone. Google's AI now shows it when people search for the company along with terms like "support." I've already contacted Google and asked them to remove or correct it, but the problem continues. I'm receiving roughly 50 unwanted calls and messages every day. I can't easily change the number because many of my accounts are tied to it, and removing it from the company's privacy policy could violate legal requirements. What practical steps can I take to stop Google from displaying it while still complying with the law?
4 Answers
A personal-number removal service may help find and remove copies of your number from data brokers and public databases, although it won’t necessarily change the company’s legally required contact information or correct an AI answer by itself. Also consider asking your phone provider about spam filtering, call screening, and whether the number can be moved to a business service while keeping your existing accounts connected.
Before changing or deleting anything, confirm with a privacy or telecommunications lawyer what the law actually requires. It may require that the company publish a contact number, but not necessarily your personal mobile number. The company might be able to list a dedicated support line, switchboard, or monitored forwarding number instead.
The cleanest long-term fix is to give the company a dedicated business number, such as a virtual line or call-forwarding number, instead of using your personal one. Put that number consistently on the company website and other official business listings, then request corrections wherever the old number appears. It may take time for search results and AI-generated answers to update.
Google’s AI can pull incorrect information from many indexed sources, so reporting the answer once may not be enough. Check the company website, privacy policy, business listings, cached pages, and other public profiles for the number. Correct or remove it where possible, clearly identify the official support number, and submit repeated feedback on inaccurate search results. An SEO or reputation-management professional could also help reinforce the correct information.
There’s no guarantee that this will work immediately, but making the correct number consistent across official sources gives search systems better information to rely on.