Google has undertaken many policy changes over the last few years, continually adapting and updating based on how the internet and search evolve. It may have been easy to keep up with Google’s rules when it was first established — that Don’t Be Evil mantra summed it up pretty well — but the company is now one of the largest on the planet. To let us know that it’s still really trying to be as good as it can be, Google has created a new hub with the goal of being transparent.
Google today announced the launch of its Transparency Center, which serves as a central hub for users to access detailed information about Google’s product policies. It was designed with users in mind, helping to spread awareness on a wide range of policies for 43 highlighted products, like Google Ads, Google Play, and Google Maps. Alphabet products without the Google namesake are also included, like Blogger, Fitbit, and YouTube.
The Transparency Center makes it easy to learn about policies for a specific product, but also about personal data privacy and Google’s AI principles. In addition, it serves as a place to find Google’s transparency reports, information about how policies are developed, and forms for reporting inappropriate content and appealing enforcement actions.
Recently, Google pulled a similar move with its ads business, launching an Ads Transparency Center to give users easy access to information about companies selling products on Google services and partner sites. The company also introduced new tools for removing search results that contain sensitive personal information earlier this month.
Ultimately, this hub is building off of Google’s transparency reports, which started over a decade ago, and combining them with various other resources centered around user privacy. By showing everyone the receipts for all its policy changes, ideals, and new rules up front, it seems Google really wants us to know it’s still trying its best to not be evil after all these years.
