Google Privacy Policy Change: Email and Photos Connected to Search Can Shape Personalized Ads

What happened

Android Authority first reported the change on Oct 23, with The Verge, Ars Technica, 9to5Google and How-To Geek following the same day; Techlicious had already flagged the update on Oct 19. The previous policy wording had been unchanged since July 1, 2021: Google did not show personalized ads based on content from Drive, Gmail or Photos. The new version keeps that sentence and adds an exception after it.

The exception only triggers when users actively connect services. Personal Intelligence, launched by Google in January, connects Gmail, Google Photos and YouTube to Search and AI Mode so answers draw on a user's own emails and photos; it is in beta for users over 18, excluding the European Economic Area, Switzerland, the UK and Nigeria. Google's help page says Search may use summaries, excerpts and inferences from emails and photos to personalize answers, and that same information may also be used to show ads; advertisers do not get direct access to inboxes or photo libraries, and sensitive categories such as health, religion, sexual orientation and race remain excluded from ad personalization.

A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land that the company has started testing ads in AI Mode for users who connected their apps through Personal Intelligence. Users who want emails, files and photos kept out of ad targeting can disconnect specific apps in Search Services personalization settings, or turn off personalized recommendations. PPC Land, comparing the new text against 54 archived versions of Google's privacy policy, found three rewritten sentences in the advertising section plus a new note: the basis for ads changed from 'interests and activity across Google services' to 'interests, activity, or personalized content from Google services,' with a hotel booking in an email given as the example defining Personal Intelligence.

Key facts

1. Effective date: the revised privacy policy took effect Oct 16, 2026, fifteen days after the previous version dated Oct 12.
2. Exception wording: Google does not show personalized ads based on content from Drive, Gmail or Photos, 'unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads.'
3. Trigger channel: the only concrete route Google currently describes is Personal Intelligence, where users connect Gmail and Google Photos to Search and AI Mode; users who never connect remain under the old pledge.
4. Advertiser boundary: advertisers get no direct access to inboxes, files or photo libraries; ads draw on summaries and inferences generated from connected content, not the content itself; sensitive-category exclusions are unchanged.
5. Opt-out: disconnect specific apps in Search Services personalization settings, or turn off personalized recommendations; after disconnecting, Search no longer draws personal recommendations from the inbox.
6. Ad testing: a Google spokesperson said the company has started testing ads in AI Mode for users who connected their apps through Personal Intelligence.