AI reads along: Google is now using your emails and photos for advertising
Previously, Google generally excluded private content from Gmail and photos from advertising, but an adapted data protection declaration changes that. Anyone who links their accounts to Google Search or Gemini also allows the company to display personalized ads.
New rules for private data
Google now allows access to Gmail and photos for personalized advertising. The group adjusted its data protection declaration a few days ago, thereby abandoning a long-standing promise. The change affects how content from Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos is handled. To date, the company has generally ruled out the use of this data for personalized advertising. An exception now applies if users release the data for other services.
The innovation is related to the Personal Intelligence function. Users can voluntarily grant the AI assistant Gemini or Google Search access to the mailbox or photo library. For example, when asked about restaurants and hotels, Search can access a reservation saved in Gmail to make more appropriate suggestions. According to the new policy, anyone who activates this will allow Google to use the information derived from the content to personalize ads.
Ad summaries
According to Google, advertisers do not receive direct access to documents, private photos or email addresses. Like, among other things Android Authority reported, ads are not based directly on the mailbox or photo library. However, the search may use summaries, excerpts and conclusions from the linked sources, and this information may also be used for advertising. Sensitive categories such as health, sexual orientation or religion are excluded from advertising. If you want to prevent private content from being evaluated for advertising, you can use the apps in the account settings under Personalization of search services separate. However, disconnecting does not automatically delete the information that Google has already saved in the search history. This data remains on the servers and can be used for AI training until the user removes it separately.
Unclear situation in the EU
According to an official help page, the linking of the apps with Google search is currently blocked in the European Union. Google currently only offers the feature in countries such as the USA as well as parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America. However, the company already expanded Gemini’s personalization functions to Germany in April, so the changed data protection declaration may also affect users here.
