Google's privacy policy now says Gmail and Photos data could shape ads
A change effective Oct. 16 covers users who connect apps to Gemini's Personal Intelligence. Google says it is opt-in and excludes sensitive data.
By the Bay Area Brief staff · Edited by Seamus McKenna · · 2 min read
Palm trees and the Hotel Valencia at Santana Row in San Jose on a sunny day. Photo: Payton Chung / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped, resized and color-graded). Archive photo of the area; not a photo of the events in this story.
Mountain View-based Google updated its privacy policy, effective Oct. 16, to say data from apps such as Gmail and Photos may be used for ads if users choose to make it available, Ars Technica reports.
Why it matters: Gmail content has long been off-limits for ad targeting. The new language ties to Personal Intelligence, which lets Gemini and Search draw on connected Google apps.
What Google says
Ads are "not based directly" on the contents of your inbox, connecting apps is opt-in, and sensitive information is excluded, Google said in a statement.
Users can turn it off in Gemini's Personal Intelligence settings, or under Search personalization in Connected Content Apps, The Hacker News reports.
The feature is not available in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, the U.K. or Nigeria.
The change comes as rivals add ads to AI products. OpenAI's ads now run in 89 countries.
Sources
This article is an original summary based on the following reporting. We encourage readers to visit the original sources for full coverage.
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