this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2026
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Google quietly changes privacy policy so your Gmail and Photos could be used in targeted ads - Dexerto (www.dexerto.com)
submitted 5 days ago by spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works to c/technology@lemmy.world
173 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Google has updated its privacy policy to allow personal information from Gmail, Google Photos, and Drive to potentially be used for targeted advertising, raising new questions about how the company handles users’ private data.

The change, which took effect on October 16, introduces a significant exception to Google’s previous promise that it would not use content from these services to personalize advertisements.

As first spotted by Android Authority, the updated policy specifically affects users who connect their personal information to Google’s AI-powered services, including Search and Gemini.

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[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 20 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Google using Gmail to target ads has been a thing since the launch, I remember the articles about it back in the day, and still got a Gmail since it was still soo much better than alternatives like Hotmail.

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.social 4 points 4 days ago

Their own phrasing:

Google does not scan G Suite emails for the purposes of ad targeting

Sounds a lot like weasel wording to me. Could be they're still scanning - for other pruposes. The article obviously does not clarify.

I'd rather they tell us all the data mining they do do.