Google Will Stop Scanning Gmail for Ad Personalization

Announced today, Google will soon stop scanning your Gmail messages for the use of ad personalization. You see, for the longest time, Google has scanned free Gmail users’ messages to help sell personalized ads. Well, moving forward, Google will stop doing that to ensure trust with businesses paying for G Suite.

“Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change,” Google wrote in a blog post. “G Suite customers and free consumer Gmail users can remain confident that Google will keep privacy and security paramount as we continue to innovate.”

Even though this form of ad selling is set to go away, free Gmail users will still see ads inside of Gmail. As announced, a user’s search history and YouTube history will be read to still target ads. But don’t worry, if that bugs you, you can opt-out here.

For the most part, nothing in terms of user experience should change inside of Gmail.

// Google