Hello Local guides
Few days ago I was checking my photo contribution when I saw one of my picture with maximum views which I shared with fellow local guides, @Rohan10 notified me that he is not able to view that photo in my profile that’s when I checked by going incognito and I couldn’t view it
I opened the place and checked for the photo in by you section even there I couldn’t find it.
I had added it almost a year ago.
I have not edited nor did I add any watermark to it.
Infact it was the first photo for quite a long time and suddenly it disappeared.
What could be the reason for it to become private?
Has anyone else faced similar issue ?
Location of the place
I am tagging @PaulPavlinovich
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@FalguniP
Please check your link to the place.
Cheers
Morten
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@MortenCopenhagen I hope it’s visible now…
Everytime I add a link it changes and adds %20http// while posting from phone 
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@FalguniP
Much better now. Thanks.
Did you add the photo while writing a review? If so, is your review still public?
Cheers
Morten
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Yes the review is public other photos are public too @MortenCopenhagen
The photo was 1st picture of that place after I added that and that too for quite a long time.
And suddenly it is missing
@FalguniP
Being the 1st pic could make us suspect that someone flagged it - maybe to increase their own chances of having the 1st pic. I’m just guessing here.
It is a place with 2520+ photos = that is a lot. Not keeping the 1st pic forever is to be expected but it should not go private.
When I see missing pics of my own they never go missing after first showing up on the place’s page. But I often see examples where the AI refuses a single photo for no reason I can explain/understand. This happens instantly and such pics are never shown on the place’s page first.
Could you try sharing the direct link to the photo (best done from desktop) so we can see it in high res and the Team will likely want that also if they would choose to investigate?
Cheers
Morten
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It will be little difficult for me to get a link cause my laptop is broken @MortenCopenhagen
I will try to login to someone’s desktop and see if I can get the link.
Thanks !
You can also just use a browser on your phone, @FalguniP .
Morten
@FalguniP I saw a similar thing happening with 360 photospheres recently. What might be happening here is that Maps is recognising the photo with the branding of the place as a watermark in your photo or use of a trademark is and is rejecting it. That was confirmed to be happening with the 360 photos.
I will bring this up in the moderator forum and see if it is possible to get an answer for you.
Paul
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@MortenCopenhagen
Here is the link of that picture please let me know if you are able to open it.
Also when I used Google lense to search for the image I saw it appearing on a website
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@PaulPavlinovich
I see it appearing on another website is is because it’s visible there they made my picture private?
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@FalguniP
Your link is perfect. Thanks. And the photos looks fine. One tiny issue could be that a face is on the shot.
But the fact that somebody stole your photo and published elsewhere on the internet is probably more like to explain why it got removed from Google Maps.
If I were you I would reach out to those who stole my picture and ask them where I should send the bill to for using my photo with out your permission. 
If they remove the photo I would try to upload it again. This will not recover your views though.
But maybe the Google moderators has some better advice for you.
Cheers
Morten
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@MortenCopenhagen the company that used my photo is a local search engine of India.
I wonder if anything can be done for the same I will wait for a reply from Paul over this issue.
Using the link; I can see it too @FalguniP
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I think they’re actually embedding the Maps content @FalguniP trying to make themselves look important by using Google’s data. I’m not sure if that is within the Maps API Terms of Service or not.
@Bobiisha what do you think?
Paul
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Hi @FalguniP ,
We will look into this!
Thanks for the tag, @PaulPavlinovich .
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Thanks for the response @PaulPavlinovich and @Bobiisha
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