{"id":449601,"date":"2025-12-15T22:48:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T22:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/449601\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T22:48:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T22:48:12","slug":"googles-dark-web-report-feature-will-no-longer-be-available-starting-in-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/449601\/","title":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s \u2018dark web report\u2019 feature will no longer be available starting in February"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google has revealed that its \u201cdark web report\u201d feature will be discontinued starting February 16, 2026. Launched initia<\/a>lly<\/a> about a year and a half ago, this tool aimed to help users monitor their personal information on the dark web.<\/p>\n

For some users, the dark web report seemed like a valuable tool, scanning various data breach dumps and alerting them if their personal information \u2014 such as email addresses, names, phone numbers, and Social Security numbers \u2014was found in compromised databases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, as noted on its support page<\/a>, Google has decided to shut down the feature due to feedback suggesting that it \u201cdidn\u2019t provide helpful next steps\u201d for users facing potential identity risks.<\/p>\n

Many users echoed this, with Reddit discussions reflecting a common frustration: The tool didn\u2019t offer actionable advice. As one commenter<\/a> put it, it often felt like all users could do was change their passwords without clear guidance on which accounts or websites were affected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re making this change to instead focus on tools that give you more clear, actionable steps to protect your information online,\u201d the tech giant wrote. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to track and defend you from online threats, including the dark web, and build tools that help protect you and your personal information.\u201d<\/p>\n

In place of the dark web report feature, Google recommended other protective measures. The company offers other tools, such as \u201cSecurity Checkup,\u201d which reviews your Google account\u2019s security; a built-in \u201cPassword Manager\u201d for generating unique passwords; and \u201cPassword Checkup,\u201d which sends alerts when your saved passwords have been compromised, among other features.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Users were alerted via email, according to 9to5Google<\/a>, which was the first to spot the feature\u2019s planned shutdown.<\/p>\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

If you were using the dark web report feature, it\u2019s important to note that scanning for new dark web breaches will stop on January 16. The dark web report tool will be officially discontinued on February 16, and all related data will be deleted from Google\u2019s servers.<\/p>\n

Users who want to take control of their data before the deadline can delete their profiles by going to \u201cResults with your info,\u201d then selecting \u201cEdit monitoring profile,\u201d and choosing \u201cDelete monitoring profile\u201d at the bottom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Google has revealed that its \u201cdark web report\u201d feature will be discontinued starting February 16, 2026. Launched initially…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":449602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[4212,101516,2722,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-449601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-dark-web","9":"tag-deadpool","10":"tag-google","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115726025056428204","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}