News

Google Update Makes It Easier To Remove Private Information

The company has also strengthened parental controls and will blur explicit imagery in search results by default.

Published

3 years ago

August 4, 2023

Nour Nasir

Google

A new Google update will make it easier to control information appearing in search results. Last year, the company released a tool to help people remove phone numbers, home and email addresses. The latest update will add further features to the “results about you” tool to make it even more effective.

google privacy update

A new dashboard will appear over the next few days, letting users know when personal information pops up in search results. When alerted, you’ll be able to ask Google to remove the offending results.

google privacy update 2

Earlier this year, the company debuted a new feature for Google One users that crawls the dark web to see if information has been included in data breaches. The latest update seems to work similarly for the wider internet, further protecting your privacy.

The tool can be accessed in the Google app by tapping your profile photo and choosing “results about you” or from a dedicated webpage if you’re using a PC or laptop. The new feature is only available in the US for now, but Google plans to roll out the update to a wider audience very soon.

Also Read: The Largest Data Breaches In The Middle East

Meanwhile, Google is also implementing an upgrade that will allow people to not only remove non-consensual explicit images from search results, but also consensual photos that they no longer want to be seen.

Finally, Google is also updating its parental controls and SafeSearch. Explicit imagery will be blurred by default, and it will soon become much easier to access parental controls.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.