Google is going to stop scanning your Gmail messages for ad personlization, it has confirmed today.
You will still see ads when you use Gmail on your phone or in a web browser, but they will no longer be based on information Google has pulled from your emails.
Yes, that’s right: Google has been scanning your Gmail messages to deliver tailored ads. You may not have known about it, but it has been common practice for a long time — unless you use the paid G Suite service instead.
The good news is that it’s going to stop. Google is bringing free Gmail — which now boasts over 1.2 billion users worldwide — inline with G Suite later this year.
“Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change,” the company says. “This decision brings Gmail ads in line with how we personalize ads for other Google products. Ads shown are based on users’ settings.”
If you don’t want that, you can disable ad personalization at any time from within your Google account settings.
“G Suite customers and free consumer Gmail users can remain confident that Google will keep privacy and security paramount as we continue to innovate,” it continues. “As ever, users can control the information they share with Google at myaccount.google.com.”
