# Google's privacy policy adds an exception to its Gmail, Drive and Photos ad promise: what changed, what reaches ads, how to opt out Published: 2026-10-25 Google's privacy policy used to say, in one 15-word sentence, that it does not show personalized ads based on content from Drive, Gmail or Photos. The version effective October 16, 2026 adds an 18-word clause: unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads. The episode compares the two sentences, explains Google's opt-in Personal Intelligence connection, and reports what Google's help page says reaches ads (summaries, excerpts and inferences, not the inbox directly) and what does not (advertisers get no access to the inbox or photos, and sensitive categories stay excluded). It also covers how to disconnect the apps, what is still unknown, Google's 2017 promise to stop scanning Gmail for ads, and Sweden's Government Offices blocking ChatGPT and Claude on staff computers. Canonical: https://thedailydiff.dev/video/2026-10-24-google-ads-personal-data/ ## What this video covers - The Google privacy policy effective October 1, 2026 said: We don't show you personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail, or Photos. The version effective October 16, 2026 adds, after Google Photos, 18 words: unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads. - Google's help page says ads will not be based directly on your Gmail inbox or Google Photos library. If you connect your content apps to Search services, Search may reference summaries, excerpts and inferences from them, and that same information may be used to show you ads. - The connection is a choice: you must be signed in to a personal Google Account, have Personalized Recommendations enabled and connect Google Workspace (currently Gmail and Google Calendar) and Google Photos yourself, at age 18 or older. Once connected, all Search services, including AI Mode, Maps and Shopping, may access the data. - Google says advertisers do not get access to your Gmail inbox or Google Photos library, and it does not show personalized ads based on sensitive categories such as race, religion, sexual orientation or health. Those two lines sit beside the changed sentence and were not edited. - To opt out, disconnect Google Workspace and Google Photos under Connected content apps in Search Services Personalization, or turn Personalized Recommendations off. Android Authority warns that data already saved in Search Services History may remain after disconnecting. - Google's statement to Ars Technica calls connecting entirely opt-in and repeats that ads will not be based directly on the Gmail inbox or Photos library; Ars reads it as confirming connected data may inform ads. Still open: the policy names Gemini Apps as a service that can access other Google data without saying whether ads appear there (Ars says the Gemini app has no ads today), and Google's EU linking choice for Search, YouTube and ad services interacts with the exception in ways its pages do not spell out. - In June 2017 Google said consumer Gmail content would not be used or scanned for any ads personalization. That promise covered scanning the inbox; the 2026 exception covers apps you connect to Search. - Sweden's Government Offices will block ChatGPT and Claude on staff computers from Monday, October 26, according to Sveriges Radio's Ekot, and point staff to approved tools including Microsoft Copilot. ## Questions and answers ### What did Google change in its privacy policy about ads and Gmail, Drive and Photos? Google added an exception to one sentence. The policy effective October 1, 2026 said Google doesn't show personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail, or Photos. The version effective October 16 adds 18 words: unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads, according to Google's own comparison page. ### Does Google use Gmail and Google Photos content to target ads? Google says ads will not be based directly on your Gmail inbox or Google Photos library. If you connect those apps to Search services, Google Search Help says Search may reference summaries, excerpts and inferences from them, and that the same information may be used to show you ads. Google also says advertisers do not get access to your inbox or photos. ### Is the Personal Intelligence connection on by default? Google's help page says you must be signed in to a personal Google Account, have Personalized Recommendations enabled and connect the content apps yourself, at age 18 or older. Android Authority reports that Gmail, Drive and Photos content is not used for targeted ads by default, and that the exception applies to people who connect those apps to eligible Google services. ### How do I stop connected Gmail and Photos data from reaching Google ads? Disconnect the apps or switch off Personalized Recommendations. Android Authority's route is Google Account, Data and privacy, Personalization settings, Manage Personalized Recommendations in Search Services, then disconnect Google Workspace and Google Photos under Connected content apps. It warns that data already saved in Search Services History may remain. ### What was The Daily Diff's verdict on Google's privacy policy change? The Daily Diff's verdict was NEEDS REVIEW. The host's reason is that Google's promise now depends on a setting in Search, so people should check that setting once and decide for themselves. The episode adds that Google's statement to Ars Technica calls connecting entirely opt-in, that Ars reads it as confirming connected data may inform ads, and that the policy does not say whether ads appear in Gemini Apps. ## Chapters - 0:00 Why does Google's ad promise have a new ending? - 0:42 What exactly changed in the sentence? - 1:03 Which of your apps can reach the ads? - 1:33 What actually reaches the ads? - 2:25 How do you switch it off? - 3:09 What is still unknown? - 3:42 Why is Sweden blocking ChatGPT and Claude? - 4:24 What did Google promise in 2017? - 4:55 What gets the NEEDS REVIEW stamp? ## Transcript ### Why does Google's ad promise have a new ending? 0:00 Google's privacy policy says it does not show you ads personalized from your Gmail, Drive or Photos. This month, that sentence grew an eighteen word ending. In this video, what did that ending change? Which of your data can reach the ads? And how do you switch it off? And the old promise has a backstory from twenty seventeen. I will get to it at the end. 0:18 It's Saturday, October twenty fourth, and this is The Daily Diff. Personal Intelligence is Google's feature that lets Search read your Gmail, your calendar and your Google Photos, so its answers sound like an assistant who has met you. Picture a butler who has read all your mail. The privacy policy is the contract that says what the butler may mention to the advertising department. You must be eighteen, signed in, and connect the apps yourself. ### What exactly changed in the sentence? 0:42 Here is the old sentence, from the version dated October first. We don't show you personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail, or Photos. Fifteen words. Now the version effective October sixteenth keeps all of it and adds one clause: unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads. ### Which of your apps can reach the ads? 1:03 By default, nothing changes. Android Authority says Gmail, Drive and Photos content is not used for targeted ads by default, and the exception applies to people who connect those apps. So how does the choice work? In your Google Account you turn on Personalized Recommendations in Search services, then connect Google Workspace and Google Photos. Today Workspace means Gmail and Calendar, and Drive is not on that list yet. Google's help page says the connection lets all Search services reach the data, 1:31 from AI Mode to Maps to Shopping. ### What actually reaches the ads? 1:33 Now the part Google stresses. Its help page says, quote, ads will not be based directly on your Gmail inbox or your Google Photos library. Search may reference summaries, excerpts and inferences from them, and that same information may be used to show you ads. Advertisers do not get your inbox or your photos, and race, religion, sexual orientation and health stay off limits. Those promises sit in the lines right above and below the changed one, 1:58 and Google left both lines alone. The policy gives two examples. For answers, a hotel booking: ask Search what to do nearby, and it may pull the booking details out of an email. For ads, mountain bikes: search for them and you may see sports equipment on YouTube. That mountain bike example was already in the old policy. Neither example is an ad built from an email. The new paragraph also adds that access is, quote, 2:21 subject to the policies and settings of the accessing service. ### How do you switch it off? 2:25 To opt out, open your Google Account and go to Data and privacy. Choose Personalization settings, and then Search services personalization. Under Connected content apps, disconnect Google Workspace and Google Photos, or turn Personalized Recommendations off entirely. That one switch sits in Search services, so it covers Maps and Shopping too. Android Authority warns that disconnecting may not erase what Google already saved in Search Services History. Google's own help page includes a line I did not expect. 2:55 It says, please don't connect your Google content apps if they contain personal or confidential information that you wouldn't want used for training generative AI models. Google adds that it trains on summaries and inferences from your mail, and not directly on the inbox. ### What is still unknown? 3:09 What is still open? Google's statement to Ars Technica says connecting is entirely opt-in and repeats the help page line: ads will not be based directly on your Gmail inbox or Photos library. Ars reads that as confirming your connected data may inform ads. The policy names Gemini Apps as a service that can access your other data, and Ars says the Gemini app has no ads today, though AI search can show sponsored content. In the EU, Google's rules add a separate choice to link 3:37 Search, YouTube and ad services, and I could not tell how it meets this exception. Same week, the mirror image of this story. ### Why is Sweden blocking ChatGPT and Claude? 3:43 Sweden's Government Offices will block ChatGPT and Claude on staff computers from Monday, according to Sveriges Radio. Staff are pointed to approved tools, including Microsoft Copilot, whose security was raised after a review, according to internal information Ekot saw. The digitalization director wrote on the intranet that using AI services without an agreement can have consequences for information security. The tax agency and the institutions agency already block them, and the enforcement agency is deciding. 4:11 At the transport agency, an internal audit this year found widespread, risky use of about ten different AI services. Some Government Offices staff keep a route to both tools through a platform the Offices built themselves. ### What did Google promise in 2017? 4:24 Now the backstory I promised. In June twenty seventeen, Google said consumer Gmail content would, quote, not be used or scanned for any ads personalization. The reason then was business customers, who hesitated to trust Google with sensitive data. That promise covered scanning your inbox. The new exception covers what you connect to Search. Different mechanism, same inbox, nine years apart. If you'd rather read this than hear me say it, the diff lands in your inbox 4:51 every morning, free at the daily diff dot dev, link below. So today's verdict is NEEDS REVIEW. ### What gets the NEEDS REVIEW stamp? 4:57 I'd review it because the promise now depends on a setting in Search, so check that setting once and decide for yourself. Tell me in the comments if you'd have stamped it differently. And that's the diff for today. I'm Niko from Axrisi. Merge responsibly. ## Sources - [Google Privacy Policy (effective October 16, 2026)](https://policies.google.com/privacy) — Google - [Google Privacy Policy comparison: October 1 to October 16, 2026](https://policies.google.com/privacy/archive/20261001-20261016) — Google - [Connect your Google content apps to get a Search services experience that's tailored to you](https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/16859283?p=lm-pi-faq&rd=1) — Google Search Help - [Google makes a privacy policy exception to use your Gmail and Photos data for ads](https://www.androidauthority.com/google-personal-intelligence-privacy-3727111/) — Android Authority - [Now Google says it might use your Gmail and Google Photos data to target ads](https://www.theverge.com/tech/1017600/google-personal-intelligence-privacy-policy-ads-update) — The Verge - [Updated Google privacy policy says your Gmail might be used for advertising](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/updated-google-privacy-policy-says-your-gmail-might-be-used-for-advertising/) — Ars Technica - [Hacker News discussion of The Verge report](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50214218) — Hacker News - [Google will stop scanning your Gmail messages to sell targeted ads (June 23, 2017)](https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/23/15862492/google-gmail-advertising-targeting-privacy-cloud-business) — The Verge - [Regeringskansliet spärrar AI-tjänsterna Chat GPT och Claude](https://www.sverigesradio.se/artikel/chat-gpt-och-claude-forbjuder-regeringskansliet) — Sveriges Radio (Ekot) - [About DMA & your linked services](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/14202510?hl=en) — Google Account Help