According to Thurrott.com, Google is discontinuing its free dark web monitoring tool that warns users when their personal information is found on the dark web. The company will stop scanning for new results on January 15, 2026, and will delete all existing user data from the reports after February 16, 2026. The tool, which was first a paid perk for Google One subscribers in 2023 before becoming free for all users, allowed people to monitor for exposed data like emails, birthdates, phone numbers, and addresses. In an email to users, Google stated the report “did not provide helpful next steps” and that it will now focus on building tools that offer “more clear, actionable steps.” For now, the opt-in feature remains available on its dashboard page, but its days are officially numbered.
Why Dark Web Monitoring Is Tricky
Here’s the thing about dark web monitoring services: they’re essentially alarm systems that go off after the burglary has already happened. The tool worked by letting you set up a monitoring profile, and then Google would scan those sketchy, hidden corners of the internet for your info. If it found a match, you’d get an alert. Sounds useful, right? But Google’s feedback hits on the core problem: so what? Knowing your email and old password from the 2017 Yahoo breach is floating around on some forum doesn’t tell you what to actually do about it, besides the obvious step of changing that password everywhere. It creates anxiety without a clear path to resolution. That’s a tough value proposition to sustain, especially for a free tool.
Google’s New Security Focus
So, what’s Google pushing users toward instead? The company is highlighting its existing security checkups and, more notably, the Results about you tool. And honestly, this shift makes a lot of sense from a resource perspective. “Results about you” is more aligned with Google’s core business—search—and gives you a direct, actionable step: find your personal info in Google Search results and request its removal. It’s a cleaner, more controlled process that Google can actually influence. Dark web monitoring, by contrast, is a never-ending game of whack-a-mole in a realm Google doesn’t control. They’re basically saying, “We can’t fix the dark web, but we can try to clean up our own backyard.” It’s a pragmatic, if less ambitious, approach to privacy.
Should You Be Worried?
Look, losing any free security tool feels like a step back. But was this one actually that effective? For the average person, probably not. The real value in these alerts was always in prompting good hygiene—making you update passwords and enable two-factor authentication. But you can get those prompts from a password manager or even from Google’s own security checkup without the creepy dark web headline. The underlying threat hasn’t changed; your data is still out there from countless past breaches. Google’s exit just highlights that monitoring alone isn’t a solution. It’s on you to use strong, unique passwords and 2FA. Basically, the tool going away doesn’t make you less safe; it just removes one notification you probably didn’t know what to do with anyway.
