Stolen NFTs Removed by Google, Revealing a Gaping Hole in the Industry

After streams of complaints regarding OpenSea’s fraudulent content reporting system, we finally have a solution to stolen NFTs and art theft! Well, sort of.

A Twitter user recently utilized Google’s ‘Report Content’ service to remove a stolen image of her NFT. Surprisingly, it worked! Google can choose to block, limit, or remove access for inappropriate content. This can include phishing, violent, explicit, or any content that violates rights and laws. For an immediate remedy, this seems great. Nevertheless, it raises several questions to the NFT industry as a whole.

Can Decentralized NFTs Thrive in Centralized Search Engines?

Blockchain technology is mainly responsible for the birth of NFTs. Blockchain, by its very definition, ensures NFTs cannot be replaced or replicated, nor can its existence or transaction records be modified. However, we execute most of the decentralized activities (crypto and NFTs) on centralized search engines (eg: Google). If Google can take down stolen NFTs from malicious users, do they then have control over all NFTs in the marketplace?

Blockchain and NFTs have promised users a decentralized Web 3 paradise for several years now. However, these activities are heavily reliant on the internet and also search engines. For instance, accessing OpenSea requires an internet browser and a connected wallet such as the MetaMask extension on Google. At the same time, Google needs to adhere to a great deal of international regulation.

For now, artists and creators can fall back on this Google service to protect their intellectual property. But in the long run, there are still many unanswered questions circling the industry. How can Web 2 and Web 3 coexist? Should one be eliminated? If so, how? If Web 3 should replace Web 2, how would the transition be executed globally? And the list goes on.