How to remove photos of you from Google Images

You search for your name on Google Images and find photos of you that you do not remember publishing: one from an old event, one someone uploaded to a forum, one from a profile on a network you no longer use or, in the worst cases, a private image. The good news is that there are several ways to remove them. The less well-known part is that asking Google alone is almost never enough.

Understand where the photo comes from

Google Images does not host photos: it shows them from the websites where they are published. So there are two separate things:

• The image at the source, on the website, social network or forum where it was published.
• The result on Google, which is an index entry pointing to that image.

If the image is removed at the source, Google will eventually stop showing it. If it is only removed from Google, the photo still exists and may appear on other search engines or in copies.

To find out where it is, open the image on Google and look at the website shown next to it. If you suspect there are more copies, run a reverse image search with the photo itself.

If you published the photo

This is the simplest case: delete it from the network or website where you uploaded it, or make it private. Then, if Google is still showing it, use the outdated content tool with the image address. Also check old profiles you no longer use: they are the source of many photos you thought were forgotten.

If someone else published it

Request removal at the source

Your image is personal data. If it was published in Spain, it is also protected by the right to one's own image under Organic Law 1/1982, a Spanish law that protects honour, privacy and image. As a general rule, nobody may publish your image without your consent, with exceptions such as public figures at public events or images in which you appear incidentally at a public event.

You can request removal:

• From the platform, using its privacy or image rights form.
• From the website owner, by exercising your right to erasure under Article 17 of the GDPR. They have one month to reply.

Ask Google to stop showing it

Google has several specific routes:

• Right to be forgotten, for images that appear when your name is searched and whose publication is no longer justified. Our guide explains how it works.
• Personally identifiable information, when the image comes with details such as your address, your phone number or identity documents.
• Non-consensual intimate images, including fake ones or those generated with artificial intelligence.
• Images of minors: anyone under 18, or their parent or guardian, can ask for their photos to be removed from the results.

The order that usually works best

1. Take screenshots of each image with its address and the website where it appears.
2. Request removal at the source, citing a specific legal basis.
3. At the same time, ask Google to stop showing it through the route that fits.
4. Once it has been deleted at the source, use the outdated content tool.
5. Repeat on Bing, which has its own image index.
6. Search for your name again after a few weeks.

Common mistakes

• Sending the wrong address. Google needs the address of the image itself, not the search results page or the website's home page.
• Forgetting thumbnails. Sometimes the photo is deleted but its thumbnail stays in the cache for a while.
• Not looking for copies. Photos are reused on aggregators, profile sites and forums. If they are not all found, the image comes back.
• Requesting removal of legitimate photos without an argument. If you have a public profile and the photo was taken at a public event, a different approach is needed.

When it is worth getting help

Removing a photo seems simple until the website does not reply, the platform rejects the request or the image appears on ten different sites. Choosing the right legal basis, knowing when to use Google's route and when to go to the source, and following up until it has really gone is what usually solves the case.

We handle this in our personal data removal service and, for intimate images, as a priority and in complete confidence, in our intimate images and sextortion service.