I regularly contribute photos, videos, and reviews on Google Maps. As an active contributor, I always try to add accurate and high-quality information. However, I’ve noticed that sometimes my content—photos, videos, or reviews—suddenly gets hidden. This usually happens because the content did not follow the community guidelines.
The problem is that Google Maps does not clearly tell us which content was hidden or why. As a result, contributors cannot understand what went wrong.
This lack of clarity often discourages people from contributing further. When we don’t know what mistake we made, it’s hard to correct it in the future. Consequently, the overall quality of contributions can suffer.
Other major platforms like Facebook or YouTube usually notify users when a post or video violates community guidelines and explain why it was removed or hidden. This helps users understand their mistakes and contribute more responsibly in the future.
If Google Maps also provided clear notifications about which content violated which guideline, contributors could easily learn from their mistakes and create higher-quality content.
I hope Google Maps authorities consider this seriously. Transparency and clear guidance would encourage contributors to participate more responsibly, benefiting the entire community.
10 Likes
Hi @rashedul-alam
This is a difficult issue. It is easy to agree with you.
European regulations have forced platforms to create more transparency (emails to inform us when contributions get taken down and options to appeal such decisions).
Sofar these features have not rolled out elsewhere as far as I know. And in all honesty this EU transparency is far from what you request. Rarely any reason is mentioned. Most rejected contributions do not have the option to appeal.
I speculate that Google Maps is not prepared to or willing to provide more transparency because:
A The volume of contributions is extremely high
B They will not do anything to help spammers circumvent the spam filter.
Maybe the Googlers will read your post. But don’t hold your breath waiting for them to respond.
I fixed your category and tags to better let others find your post.
4 Likes
Hi @MortenCopenhagen
You European people are really lucky 
I don’t think it’s a tough job. Google has the data about which content is removed, so they could run a daily schedule and send a simple email mentioning that this content has been hidden.
You know, Facebook handles a few billion posts daily, and they manage everything perfectly.
Thanks for your comments and for fixing the appropriate category.
Not as lucky as it seems, @rashedul-alam. We don’t get mails for all hidden contributions - just only some times. Hidden photos are only marked under “My Contributions” and we never get a mail for that. So, if this happens for an older post, we can only realize if the number of public photos or reviews decreases (provide we track and check it regularly), but it is cumbersome if not impossible to identify those.
So most of your complaints also apply to us.
2 Likes
@WilfriedB , thank you for your opinion.
I believe Google could provide an alternate list or a filter to help distinguish between hidden and visible content 
I agree, @rashedul-alam and this has been requested several times here on Connect, but so far we never heard of any plans like that 
