Google’s adding a new SafeSearch mode to protect you from what you can never unsee
Google Search users will likely be familiar with the engine’sSafeSearchfiltering that removes results containing violent, sexually explicit, or otherwise not-safe-for-children content — including ondevices meant to be used by the whole family. Still, even if you’ve turned off SafeSearch because you think you can handle what’s out there, there are some situations you can’t predict where you’d still rather have it do its job. Google’s making sure that happens with a new toggle out soon.
Having the toggle on, as detailed in one of today’s posts onThe Keyword, will automatically blur inappropriate imagery in search results even without SafeSearch fully on. Inappropriate texts and links will appear. Individual images can also be un-blurred at will.
This “Blur” mode differs from what will be called the full-blown “Filter” mode that removes bad image results entirely.
Overall, we can see this as a handy feature in conventional office settings or during screen shares in video conferences where you may be confronting trauma-inducing issues or unexpected results generated out of innocuous queries.
The company expects to push this toggle out “in the coming months.” Google users will find the new toggle in theirSafeSearch settings. Once launched, the setting will be turned on by default for Google users who don’t have SafeSearch filtering activated. SafeSearch is on by default for Google users between the minimum age of 13 and 18.
SafeSearch isn’t infallible in terms of determining what’s appropriate to show and what isn’t, so keep that in mind. On the same front, theGoogle Play Storedoesn’t exactly have a perfect track record, either.
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This article is sponsored by Total Wireless.
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