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Google says it can demote sites that receive a significant volume of qualifying removals for non-consensual explicit images, including fake sexual imagery—but it has not disclosed a number that defines “significant.” “Mass report” is shorthand, not Google’s published rule: its guidance describes successful or valid removals, not a required coordinated campaign. Separately, Google says it has adjusted results for searches that specifically seek explicit fake content and include a person’s name.

Google describes two different ranking actions

Google’s policy combines a query-level change with a site-level signal. They have different triggers and scopes, and neither guarantees that a particular result will disappear from every route online.

Action Scope Trigger What Google says about results What is disclosed
Query-level ranking changes Searches specifically seeking explicit fake content and including a person’s name Google’s ranking updates, rather than a stated number of reports Google aims to surface high-quality, non-explicit material, such as relevant news, when available Google reported a reduction in exposure for this query class; its announcement did not give a baseline, measurement period, or independent evaluation
Removal-based site demotion Pages across sites receiving a significant volume of qualifying personal removals A significant volume of successful or valid removals Google says it demotes all pages from qualifying sites No numeric threshold, measurement window, or ranking formula is public

Google’s Search Central guidance says it demotes all pages from sites that receive a “significant volume” of removals involving explicit personal imagery shared without consent or explicit non-consensual fake content. That establishes a stated site-level policy, but not how many removals trigger it or how much any page will move.

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In July 2024, Google Product Manager Emma Higham described the general rationale: “Generally, if a site has a lot of pages that we’ve removed from Search under our policies, that’s a pretty strong signal that it’s not a high-quality site, and we should factor that into how we rank other pages from that site.” The phrasing does not set a count or time period. A Google spokesperson separately told Ars Technica that a high volume of successful removals from a website would be used as a ranking signal for queries where the site might appear; that is the spokesperson’s statement as reported by Ars, not wording from Google’s published policy.

What Google’s over-70% figure does—and does not—mean

Google said that updates it made in 2024 reduced exposure to explicit image results by over 70% for queries specifically seeking the content and including people’s names. That figure is Google’s own claim. The announcement did not provide a baseline, sample, measurement period, or independent evaluation.

It is not a claim that general searches for deepfake sites fell by over 70%, nor proof that prominent sites were demoted. Google’s July 2024 announcement said that for searches seeking the content and naming a person, it would aim to show high-quality, non-explicit results, such as relevant news, when available.

How to ask Google to remove a fake sexual image

Google says the depicted person, or their representative, can request removal when the person is identifiable, the content falsely depicts them nude or in an explicit situation, and it was distributed without their consent. Use Google’s personal sexual content removal guidance to review the criteria and submit the URLs involved.

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  1. Identify the specific Search results. Collect the URLs of the results you want Google to review. A Search removal request concerns specified URLs.
  2. Submit the request through Google’s removal process. Describe why the content meets the criteria: it depicts an identifiable person, falsely shows them nude or in an explicit situation, and was shared without consent.
  3. Use the newer image-result flow if it is available to you. In its February 10, 2026 announcement, Google described choosing “remove result” from an image result, submitting multiple images in one request, opting into safeguards to filter similar results, finding support resources, and tracking requests in the “Results about you” hub. Google said the experience was rolling out in most countries and would expand to more regions; availability everywhere was not confirmed.
  4. Consider the separate source-site route. Google’s removal affects Search results, not the copy hosted on the website. Contacting the host is a separate step if you want to seek removal at the source.

For sexual imagery requests, Google says it tries to find and remove duplicates from Search. Filtering similar results is an option in the newer flow described by Google, not a promise that every copy will be found.

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What a Google removal cannot do

Delisting a specified result from Google Search does not delete the image from the site hosting it. The material may still be available through the source website, shared links, social media, or another search engine. Google’s Search content policies and removal guidance explain the distinction between Search action and removal at the source.

Google’s public pages describe its policy and process; they do not establish that every prominent deepfake site has been demoted. The exact threshold and ranking effect remain undisclosed, so a person should not treat a removal request as a guarantee of site-wide suppression or universal removal.

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