Transparency Report

Google Maps Content Trust & Safety Report

Google Maps is dedicated to helping people navigate and explore the world around them. We work hard to provide trustworthy information that is helpful and accurately reflects the real world. With this report, we shed light on how user-generated content makes for a more helpful map, and share our approach and progress in protecting people from harm while delivering timely, reliable information.

Making a more helpful map, together

When it comes to making decisions on where to go, people trust insights and recommendations from others who have been there. Google Maps makes it easy for people to share their knowledge and experiences as a way to help others decide where to go or what business to visit. Every day, we receive millions of posts and updates about places in the form of reviews, photos, videos, and place information like addresses and hours. This user-generated content—along with updates from businesses, data from authoritative sources, and Google imagery—helps in our ongoing effort to create the freshest, most comprehensive map possible.

By the numbers

Reviews

On Google Maps, people can post reviews for places they've personally experienced. We automatically assess all reviews against our content policies before publishing, which includes robust protections against fake reviews. To avoid conflicts of interest, business owners and employees are not permitted to submit reviews for their own business or competitors.

While most of the 250 million places on Google Maps are eligible for reviews, we may limit posting on places that are generally not accessible to the public or tend to attract unhelpful, harmful, or off-topic content.

2024

Total reviews published
999M
RankCategory
1Food & Drink
2Shopping
3Services
4Entertainment & Recreation
5Health & Wellness
6Hotels & lodging

Total number of Local Reviews published on Google Maps and Search during the selected year. Ranking reflects the categories of places with the highest number of published reviews.

Photos and videos

People can post photos and videos of places on Google Maps, helping others get a genuine sense of the place before they go. We automatically assess all user-submitted photos and videos against our content policies before publishing. This includes removing harmful or offensive media like depictions of graphic violence or explicit content, as well as media that diminishes the platform's usefulness, such as blurry or overly filtered images.

2024

Total photos and videos published
752M

Total number of photos and videos published by users on Google Maps and Search during the selected year.

Place edits

From noticing a new business in the neighborhood to suggesting holiday opening hours, people who are familiar with a place can suggest an edit in Maps if they notice that information is missing or incorrect. This helps us decide whether to add a new place to the map or update a place's information. We automatically assess all user-submitted edits against our policies before publishing them. Businesses can help keep their information accurate by verifying their business and managing their information directly. We prioritize edits from business owners and managers when provided.

2024

Total place edits published
94M
RankPlace Attribute
1Name
2Location
3Hours
4Address
5Category
6Website

Total number of place edits published by users on Google Maps and Search during the selected year. One edit may contain multiple attributes (for example, if a person is adding a missing place, they could suggest its name, location and category in a single edit). Ranking reflects the attributes most frequently published.

Discover more

Our approach

Content and information you can trust

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Enforcement

Transparency into content removals on Google Maps

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Featured protections

Learn more about how we fight fake reviews and keep Maps helpful

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