Google Quietly Updates Privacy Policy to Let Gmail and Photos Data Feed Ads
Google quietly revised its privacy policy on October 16, allowing data from Gmail, Drive, and Google Photos to personalize ads when users connect it to AI features.
The revision adds a conditional clause to Google's previous pledge not to use content from Gmail, Drive, and Google Photos for advertising purposes. The change allows this data to personalize ads only when users choose to make it available to other Google services that support personalized ads.
Personal Intelligence Trade-off
The exception hinges on Personal Intelligence, Google's initiative to enhance AI tools like AI Mode in Search and Gemini by drawing on user data from connected apps. While connecting Gmail, Drive or Photos delivers more tailored responses—such as surfacing a hotel reservation from an inbox—it now also means this data can inform which ads users see.
Content from the three services still isn't used for ad targeting by default, advertisers don't get access to the contents of anyone's Gmail, Drive or Photos, and the company says it won't share personally identifying details without permission.
User Control
Users can opt out by disconnecting the apps under Connected Content apps in their Google Account's Data & privacy settings, or by turning off personalized recommendations. However, Android Authority noted that previously collected data may remain in a user's Search history even after disconnecting.
Privacy Pattern
The quiet rollout follows recent Google privacy adjustments related to its AI ambitions. In May, Decrypt reported that Chrome began silently installing a multi-gigabyte on-device AI model on users' computers, and Google removed a privacy claim tied to its Gemini Nano model, both drawing scrutiny over user data handling.
Related
