Google will stop its long-standing practice of scanning
the contents of individual Gmail users for advertising purposes, the
company announced in a blog post today. The practice, something Google
has done nearly since the launch of its email service, allows the
company to digest the contents of email messages and use them to deliver
targeted ads within Gmail itself.
Users are allowed to opt out, and Google also reserves
the practice only for personal Gmail users and not those of corporate
accounts. However, the practice has made it difficult for Google to find
and retain corporate clients for its cloud services business, according
to Diane Greene, Google’s cloud division head, who spoke with the Financial Times.
This is due to general confusion over Google’s business tactics and an
overall apprehension to trust the company with sensitive data, the
report says.
“G Suite’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,” Green wrote in today’s blog post.
“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.”
Greene’s role, since her hiring in November 2015,
has been to convince more companies to rely on Google’s G Suite and to
move more data off competitors’ services and onto Google’s cloud. This
has been a bit of an uphill battle for Google, as both Microsoft and
Amazon have emerged as two of market leaders in providing cloud
services, with Amazon primarily providing hosting and Microsoft
providing corporate productivity services. Now, Google hopes it can
bring more customers on board by convincing them that its practices
won’t jeopardize corporate privacy.
The move to end targeted advertising in Gmail doesn’t
mean users won’t still see ads. Google can still parse search histories,
YouTube browsing, and other Chrome activity as long as you’re signed
into your Gmail account. But for those who might have been wary of
Google’s ad-targeting practices in the past, this may put those worries
to rest. The company certainly hopes it will do so for the worries of
potential corporate clients.
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