Report: Alphabet-backed Care.com has erased a whopping 46,594 daycare listings

On the eve of a damaging Wall Street Journal investigation of its safety practices, childcare platform Care.com scrubbed 72% of the daycare listings on its site, the Journal said on Monday in a follow-up report. The erasure affected 46,594 businesses.

According to the Journal, many Care.com daycare listings were previously categorized as licensed, when in fact they were not. In at least one instance, children died at a Care.com-listed daycare center whose owner had been barred from operating an unlicensed facility by the state of Tennessee.

In recent weeks Care.com has added a more prominent disclaimer to its daycare pages, saying that it does not verify listing information. The company also acknowledges that it erased some daycare listings prior to publication of the Journal investigation, but claims the percentage is closer to 45%.

Capital G, Google parent company Alphabet’s growth equity investment arm, became Care.com’s largest shareholder in 2016. I reached out to Care.com and Capital G for comment and I will update this post if I hear back.