Google One is a premium subscription service that will discontinue the Dark Web Monitoring feature this month.
Google One was launched in 2018 to provide premium value-added services to paid subscribers. With a base plan of $1.99, a Google One subscription provides higher storage and perks like Dark Web Monitoring that keep getting advanced with higher subscription plans. Starting in July 2024, google is offering free dark web monitoring to all account holders, removing it as an exclusive paid service.
A Google Support page announced this transition earlier, “To make dark web report available to more Google users, it'll no longer require a Google One membership and will be made available in Results about you. Results about you is a feature that enables users to remove results containing their personal contact info, such as home address, phone number, or email address, from search results.”
With this move, the tech giant is making an attractive security service free for its 4.9 billion global users. The Dark Web Monitoring feature will now be a part of the ‘Results About You’ page, an existing feature that shows which search engines have indexed your personal information. User details, including name, phone number, address, and email address, will be searched on various dark web indexes by Google to help protect and manage their online presence.
“If any matching info is found, we'll inform you by emails and/or notifications. You'll also find relevant guidance on how to protect your personal information.” states the blog by Google Support.
Google One is removing more services from its exclusive library, but the subscription prices do not seem to be coming down anytime soon. Another premium feature, Google's VPN, will be discontinued later this year. According to Google, this move will help it focus on providing the most in-demand features. However, the VPN service will continue to be available as a built-in capability on Pixel 7 and up devices and via Google Fi Wireless.
With reduced exclusivity for over 100 million Google One subscribers, they may reconsider how to protect data critical to their business or personal life. The rapid rise of cybercrimes and data breaches in big tech companies is increasing end consumers' skepticism about the privacy, safety, and usage of their personal information.
