Maps user-generated content policy (August, 2023)
Google is dedicated to helping you discover the world around you. User-generated content (“UGC”) on our services is intended to enhance your experience, helping you preview and explore places nearby or across the globe. We go to great lengths to make sure content published by our users is helpful and reflects the real world.
Google’s content policies for Maps UGC are designed to help ensure everyone viewing contributed content has a positive experience while also keeping Maps fair and honest. While the vast majority of the millions of contributions we receive each day are authentic and accurate, we sometimes receive policy-violating content. We use a combination of people and machine-learning algorithms to detect such content and to help prevent it from being viewed by others. This policy explains the criteria for publishing UGC on Maps, and how we address inappropriate or policy-violating content.
For example, contributions must be based on real experiences and information. Deliberately fake content, copied or stolen photos, off-topic reviews, defamatory language, personal attacks, and unnecessary or incorrect content are all in violation of our policy. For more on what is and isn't allowed, see Prohibited & Restricted Content. If you see content that you believe violates our policies or the law, please report it.
Our machine-learning algorithms scan contributions to detect policy-violating content, and scan for signals of suspicious user activity. The policy-violating content is either removed by our automated models or flagged for further review by trained operators and analysts who conduct content evaluations that might be difficult for algorithms to perform alone. We remove content because it violates our policies or terms of service, or to comply with legal obligations.
We deploy many other tools to protect users from viewing inappropriate content, such as suspending UGC for specific places, geographic areas, and categories of places. These measures may be deployed reactively to counteract a spike in content that violates our policies, or proactively if we believe that they’re necessary to prevent content that violates our policies. We may also delete or suspend Google Accounts that violate our policies. Suspending content or the ability of a user to contribute UGC may include preventing uploaded content from being displayed to other users.
Please check back from time to time, as we may occasionally update our policies.