Now Google says it might use your Gmail and Google Photos data to target ads

According to the new terms, sharing your data for better AI recommendations also means opening it up for more personalized ads.

by Jess Weatherbed

Oct 23, 2026, 4:52 PM UTC

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

Jess Weatherbed is a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews.

Google has updated its privacy policy in a way that could mean you’ll start seeing targeted ads based on your personal data if you’re using personalized AI features. The update, spotted by Android Authority, adds an exception to its promise about not using your Drive, Gmail, or Google Photos for personalized ads. While the previous version simply said it wouldn’t do that, as of October 16th, Google has added the line, “unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized...

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