Now Google says it might use your Gmail and Google Photos data to target ads
theverge.com ·
Google updated its privacy policy on October 16 to allow certain data from Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos to be used for personalized ads when users choose to make that data available to other Google services that support advertising. The policy previously said Google would not use data from those services for personalized ads; it now includes an exception for data users share with other Google services.
The change can affect people who connect Gmail, Drive or Google Photos to Search tools such as AI Mode through Google’s Personal Intelligence feature. Those connections let Search and Gemini Apps access data to provide more personalized responses, recommendations and content, and Search may process permitted data to personalize advertising. Google says advertisers do not receive users’ Drive, Gmail or Photos information, or personally identifying details such as names or email addresses. Google also says it does not show ads based on sensitive categories including race, sexual orientation, religion or health. Users can limit this use by disconnecting individual apps from Search’s Personal Intelligence features or disabling Personalized Recommendations through the Search Services Personalization settings page.
What people are saying
The thread treated the headline less as a sudden policy reversal than as the predictable next step in Google’s attempt to turn deeply personal data into fuel for its AI and advertising machine.
What readers liked
- The policy’s conditional structure is better than blanket scanning: data sharing for personalized ads depends on connecting services rather than…
- EU service-linking requirements give users unusually concrete control over whether Google’s products can combine their data, showing regulation can…
Concerns raised
- Gemini reportedly becomes barely functional as an Assistant without broad access to personal data, turning AI convenience into leverage for…
- Repeated permission prompts and dark-patterned account flows make nominal opt-in suspect when Google can wear users down until they connect…
Read full discussion analysis
Source: Hacker News · Based on 15 sampled comments · Analyzed
Discussion overview
The thread treated the headline less as a sudden policy reversal than as the predictable next step in Google’s attempt to turn deeply personal data into fuel for its AI and advertising machine. A minority stressed that Gmail and Photos are not automatically opened to ad targeting: the relevant sharing happens when people choose to connect those services to other products that run personalized advertising. EU rules were also credited with forcing a clearer service-linking choice than many users receive elsewhere.
Most commenters did not find that reassurance meaningful. They argued that consent inside Google’s ecosystem is routinely manufactured through repeated prompts, confusing settings, and AI features that are crippled until users grant sweeping access. Gemini was the clearest flashpoint: readers said it cannot function as a practical Assistant replacement without permission to inspect personal services, making a nominally voluntary link feel like the price of useful AI. Several connected this to Google’s earlier willingness to use Gemini conversations for training, reading both moves as evidence of a more aggressive data-extraction strategy. The practical response was to reduce dependence on Google, use independent email domains, or self-host photo libraries, although migration and unreliable exports make that escape harder than advocates suggest. The prevailing mood was distrustful: formal opt-outs exist, but commenters expect product design to steer people toward surrendering data.
Points of disagreement
The sharp dispute is whether linking Gmail and Photos is a genuine opt-in choice or coercive consent dressed up as user control. Defenders note that ad use is conditional on users connecting services and that EU regulation offers granular linking choices. Critics counter that Google’s AI tools demand broad access to become useful, then relentlessly nudge users toward enabling it, so the choice is largely theoretical.
What readers liked
- The policy’s conditional structure is better than blanket scanning: data sharing for personalized ads depends on connecting services rather than being imposed on every Gmail or Photos user.
- EU service-linking requirements give users unusually concrete control over whether Google’s products can combine their data, showing regulation can restrain AI-adjacent profiling.
- Self-hosted photo platforms offer an appealing escape hatch for people who want useful personal-media tools without feeding a large company’s personalization system.
Concerns raised
- Gemini reportedly becomes barely functional as an Assistant without broad access to personal data, turning AI convenience into leverage for ad-targeting consent.
- Repeated permission prompts and dark-patterned account flows make nominal opt-in suspect when Google can wear users down until they connect everything.
- Google’s prior use of Gemini conversations for model training makes commenters read this as part of an escalating strategy to monetize intimate user data.
- Personal email and photo archives are especially potent profiling inputs; even sensitive-category exclusions leave political views and countless other inferences available to advertisers.
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Sources and details
theverge.com · Published
Now Google says it might use your Gmail and Google Photos data to target ads
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