Google Issues Apology for Leaking Digital Sex Crime Victims' Information: 'Deeply Aware of the Gravity'

Google has issued an official apology after information regarding digital sex crime victims was exposed externally during the deletion request process.

In an official statement released today (9th) under the name of Amanda Storey, Vice President of Trust, Safety, Regulation, Transparency, and Risk, Google stated, "We sincerely apologize for causing concern to the victims and the public due to this unintentional information exposure."

The company added, "We are deeply and heavily aware of the profound hurt and pain experienced by the victims and the public as a result of this issue."

Google explained the background of the apology by stating, "During our internal processing, the principle that sensitive information, as well as any specific details, must never be shared with third-party research databases was not strictly upheld."

Google also announced, "We immediately activated an emergency response system with the site in question and permanently deleted all matters related to the notices confirmed to have been exposed from their servers."

Additionally, Google elaborated that it has completely halted the transmission of notices to the site regarding new legal deletion requests filed in Korea, and has also blocked past notices related to domestic deletion requests from being viewed externally.

Google further emphasized that it will share the progress of these measures and technical safeguards with relevant government agencies and victim support organizations, while rebuilding a secure emergency deletion request channel.

The controversy arose after it was reported that request forms containing the names and contact information of digital sex crime victims who had asked Google to remove illicit recordings were exposed on an overseas research project site collaborating with Google.

In response, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, along with related organizations, has stepped in to delete and block the exposed information and formulate measures to prevent secondary victimization.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.