MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google today announced plans to begin automatically blurring in search results, by default, images the company considers “explicit."
Calling the default setting “a new online safety feature,” the company announced the change as part of its Safer Internet Day event.
The new default setting will be launched in the coming months, enabled for everyone and “will automatically blur explicit images that appear in search results, even for users that don’t have SafeSearch enabled,” The Verge reported.
By “explicit,” The Verge noted, Google means “pornographic, violent and gory images.”
SafeSearch, the Verge report explained, “is already the default for signed-in users under the age of 18, as it helps to filter out explicit content such as pornography, violence and gore when using Google to search for images, videos and websites.”
Google spokesperson Charity Mhende told the tech news publication, “Unless your account is supervised by a parent, school, or administrator, you will be able to change your SafeSearch setting at any time.”
Unsupervised users will have the option to disable SafeSearch entirely.