Google changes its privacy policy: Your Gmail, Photos data may now be used for ads; what it means for you

Google has reworked a long-standing promise about your inbox. Its updated privacy policy, effective October 16, now allows content from Gmail, Google Photos and Drive to shape the ads you see, as long as you have shared that data with other Google services. The change was first spotted by Android Authority.

Until now, the policy carried a plain line saying Google does not show personalised ads based on your Drive, Gmail or Photos content. That line is still there, but it now ends with a qualifier: “unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads.”