Google to stop email scanning for personalized ads

Google has announced that it will stop scanning personal emails of Gmail users for personalized targeted advertisements later this year.

According to the press release from the Internet search giant, this comes at a time where their productivity solution package GSuite has been gaining traction in the coming month with 3 million customers now paying up for the service. Starting later this year, users can change those settings at any time, including disabling ads personalization. This is according to Google Cloud SVP Diane Greene:

GSuite’s Gmail is already not used as input for ads personalization, and Google has decided to follow suit later this year in our free consumer Gmail service. Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change. This decision brings Gmail ads in line with how we personalize ads for other Google products. Ads shown are based on users’ settings. Users can change those settings at any time, including disabling ads personalization. G Suite will continue to be ad free.

GSuite users, on the other hand, would still be able to enjoy ad-free access to Google’s plethora of online services and applications. Google is now serving 1.2 billion customers for their Gmail, providing protection its users from spam, hacking, and phishing, as well as introducing new features such as smart reply and in-mail payments through add-ons.