Google recently announced that its "dark web report" function will officially stop providing services on February 16, 2026, and will gradually end related data scanning and storage before then. Launched about a year and a half ago, the feature was initially designed to help users monitor whether their personal information, including sensitive data such as email addresses, names, phone numbers and Social Security numbers, had been exposed on the dark web and various leaked databases.
The "Dark Web Report" has been regarded by some users as a valuable security aid because it scans various data leakage information and once it finds records related to the user, it will alert the user that their personal information has appeared in a database that has been compromised or illegally traded. However, Google stated on its support page that after considering user feedback, it decided to terminate this feature because the tool did not provide users with clear enough and useful follow-up guidance when prompting potential identity risks.
Many users have also expressed similar dissatisfaction in community discussions. They believe that the "Dark Web Report" only tells you that "there is a problem", but does not further explain which accounts and which websites are affected. As a result, the actual operation is often only a general and passive choice of "changing passwords". Google emphasized in its statement that this adjustment is to shift resources to tools and services that can provide users with clearer and executable security steps. It also said that it will continue to provide users with protection in various online threat areas, including the dark web, and develop new tools to help protect the security of personal information.
While the "Dark Web Report" has withdrawn from the stage, Google has also guided users to rely more on its existing security product portfolio, including functions such as "Security Checkup", Password Manager and "Password Checkup". Among them, "Security Check" can evaluate the overall security status of Google accounts, "Password Manager" is used to generate and save complex and unique passwords, and "Password Check" issues an early warning when it detects that a user's saved password appears in a leaked record. It is reported that the earliest news that the "Dark Web Report" will be offline was disclosed by the technology media 9to5Google, and some users have received official notifications via email.
According to the timetable given by Google, scanning for new dark web data leaks will stop on January 16, 2026, when this function will no longer monitor new leaks. On February 16, 2026, the "Dark Web Report" tool will be completely deactivated, and its related data will also be deleted from Google servers. For users who wish to take active control of their own data before then, Google recommends that they enter "Edit monitoring profile" in the "Results with your info" interface and select "Delete monitoring profile" at the bottom of the page to manually clear the monitoring configuration and associated records.