Google Lens, Circle to Search adding ‘About this image’ context

As part of several safety updates today, Google is updating Circle to Search and Lens with “About this image.” The company is also working to combat explicit fake imagery.

When activating Circle to Search (on Android) or using Google Lens (Android + iOS) to learn more about a picture, you’ll now see the “About this image” tool that’s already available in Search. It appears alongside the All, Visual matches, and Products/Shopping filters.

You’ll see information from news and fact-checking sites, included metadata, and digital watermarks. About this image is available in 40 languages.

Meanwhile, Google is making it easier to remove explicit fake content, or deepfakes. Search already lets people request the removal of non-consensual fake explicit imagery. When something has been successfully removed, Google’s systems will “aim to filter all explicit results on similar searches about them.” Google wants to help “people address this issue at scale.”

In addition, when someone successfully removes an image from Search under our policies, our systems will scan for – and remove – any duplicates of that image that we find.

Google is also rolling out ranking system changes, starting with an update that will “lower explicit fake content for many searches.”

For queries that are specifically seeking this content and include people’s names, we’ll aim to surface high-quality, non-explicit content — like relevant news articles — when it’s available. The updates we’ve made this year have reduced exposure to explicit image results on these types of queries by over 70%.

Search is also “demoting sites that have received a high volume of removals for fake explicit imagery.” The goal is to “keep this type of content from appearing high up in Search results.”