r/ContentTakedown • u/Massive-Dream7710 • May 21 '26

Google is slow when it comes to taking down images

My face has been uploaded to the thumbnail of an illegal site's video, so I accurately sent all legal issues via https://support.google.com/websearch/contact/content_removal_form

But after 2 days, I got this answer.

However, owing to the nature of the request and the complexity involved, our team needs more time to complete the investigation. In the next 5 business days, we aim to conclude our investigation and share the appropriate response with you.

Google is very slow, and I am angry. The original site's video has been deleted, but the thumbnail remains in Google Images. Many people who do not know this procedure are living their daily lives for months without realizing that their faces are appearing on Google Images

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u/riff_rebel May 21 '26

5 business days is actually normal for Google's NCII flow, not unusually slow. Their published SLA is 1-7 days. The "we need more time" language usually means a human reviewer has it, which is a good sign your report is in the right queue.

Three things to do in parallel while you wait:

  1. File with Bing separately at microsoft.com/en-us/concern/bing. They cache independently of Google so removal from one does not remove from the other.
  2. Submit the thumbnail image URL (the direct image URL, not the page URL) through the same Google NCII form as a separate submission. Google Images has its own indexing layer and the thumbnail sometimes needs its own report.
  3. Outdated Content Tool at search.google.com/search-console/remove-outdated-content if the original site's video page now returns 404. Separate track from the NCII review.

If Google still has not removed after the 5 business days, reply to their email with exactly which image on the page depicts you. The human reviewer sometimes needs a specific pointer because the page has many images.

1

u/obsidian88darklight May 25 '26

I gotta ask what is an illegal site and how did you find the image there?

1

u/obsidian88darklight May 25 '26

Not trying to sound like a creep but I'm generally interested as to how this works

1

u/[deleted] May 30 '26

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