Google Tool Allowed Removal of Pages from Search Results
Investigators have uncovered a vulnerability in Google’s "Refresh Outdated Content" tool that allowed unauthorized removal of search result entries—allegedly exploited to suppress negative reporting about the CEO of a major San Francisco tech company.
How It Happened
The flaw came to light following reports by journalist Jack Poulson, who had written about the 2021 arrest of Maury Blackman, then-CEO of surveillance firm Premise Data Corp., on domestic violence allegations.
Although the charges were later dropped (the complaint was withdrawn by Blackman’s then-girlfriend), Poulson’s article cited details from a publicly available police report—information that remained online for years.
Blackman, who went on to found The Transparency Company—an online reputation management firm—had previously used DMCA takedown notices and legal threats to remove unflattering content.
This time, he (or someone acting on his behalf) allegedly took advantage of Google’s Refresh Outdated Content tool—a feature meant to flag outdated or broken pages for cleanup in Google Search.
The Exploit
The core of the exploit was deceptively simple.
By submitting URLs with altered letter cases (for example, AnAtomy.html instead of anatomy.html), attackers could cause Google’s crawler to misinterpret the page as non-existent—triggering a 404 error and prompting its removal from search results.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) found that this loophole was used dozens of times between May and June 2025, resulting in the disappearance of Poulson’s articles, along with at least two additional Substack posts.
Google’s Response
After being notified by FPF, Google acknowledged the bug, issued a fix, and restored the affected content to its search index.
A spokesperson stated that the flaw impacted only a "small fraction of sites" but declined to specify which ones or how long the issue had existed.
As of now, it’s unclear how many times the flaw was exploited—or whether others used it for similar purposes.
Why It Matters
This incident raises important questions about the integrity of search results and the ease with which public information can be erased—without legal orders or transparent oversight.
Critics argue that the lack of safeguards around tools like Refresh Outdated Content enables reputation laundering, especially by those with the resources or know-how to exploit technical gaps.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation’s investigation highlights the urgent need for independent audits of algorithmic systems like Google Search to prevent future manipulation.
