Google is to stop scanning personal Gmail accounts as it seeks to change the perception of its paid-for business products – signalling the end of personalised ads in the free-to-use service.
Currently Gmail scans emails so users can receive targeted ads. However, the practice – deemed a fair trade-off for using a free service – was said to be be putting off users of Google’s paid-for G Suite, which includes email, Google docs and calendars.
“This decision brings Gmail ads in line with how we personalise ads for other Google products,” said Diane Greene, senior vice president in charge of Google Cloud in a blog post.
Google said its G Suite business is gaining “enormous traction among enterprise users”, with usage doubling in the past year among large business customers. The service, which has never scanned user emails, currently has more than three million customers.
Gmail has almost 1.2 billion users worldwide and it can expect new features such as payments and invoicing directly within Gmail, Greene said.
“G Suite customers and free consumer Gmail users can remain confident that Google will keep privacy and security paramount as we continue to innovate.”
