The Dark Web is a lawless stretch of the internet where the uglier aspects of human nature take their business online. Child pornography, identity theft, drug and arms dealing. Your private information could be on it if someone has stolen it and is offering it up for sale to the highest bidder, too.

Back in March 2023, Google released the Dark Web Report, a tool that searches the Dark Web to see whether your personal information appears there. But Google has pulled the plug, and the tool is marked for imminent deletion.

the shutdown schedule

Google will shut down the tool in two phases. First, new scans for personal info and data breaches on the dark web will stop as of Thursday, January 15, 2026. Then, on February 16, 2026, the tool and all accounts associated with it will be permanently deleted.

When it comes to the reason why Google would discontinue a tool that it only just released in March 2023, the support page detailing the shutdown was elusive and vague:

“While the report offered general information, feedback showed that it didn’t provide helpful next steps. We’re making this change to instead focus on tools that give you more clear, actionable steps to protect your information online.

We’ll continue to track and defend you from online threats, including the dark web, and build tools that help protect you and your personal information.”

Google offered a few such next steps that they felt were missing from the Dark Web Report, such as performing a Google security checkup and creating a passkey, but there are additional ways to lock down your digital privacy, anonymity, and security.

Switching to a search engine that gobbles up less of your personal info is a good idea. Try DuckDuckGo. Use a VPN. Nearly half of Americans are using one as of last year. Using a password manager lets you create unique, ultra-secure passwords for every online account without needing to remember them all.