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.
Yes! Or even just any limits on targeting granularity. Like “show ads for my nail salon to all the women in a 3 mile radius” seems fine. But “show this ad to women aged 33 who have 3 cats and who have been to Kohl’s twice in the last month and have watched at least 30 seconds of videos about Charlie Kirk” is just fucking insane, and they go even farther than that.