Diane Greene, the founder of VMware Inc. and the board member at Google revealed that Google will now stop analyzing user’s personal emails for targeted advertising purposes.
Gmail
As you may know, Gmail users encounter a number of ads based on the content of their emails. That is, the company uses algorithms to monitor the content of the emails sent and received and hence allow advertisers to display ads that are relevant to specific users.
Such a feature, however, has largely been condemned by the general public and it should go without saying that Google has fought various lawsuits filed against this feature.
The feature finally gets shut down
Now, according to Bloomberg, the feature is being dismissed and no longer will Gmail users see ads based on the emails that they send and receive.
This is a move that is believed to enhance the popularity of the G Suite – which is a collection of apps including Gmail that offers users a complete cloud package including Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.
However, as you may know, G Suite users pay to get the service. Such users did not see ads in Gmail and therefore expressed concerns over the distinction made between paying and non-paying users along with being worried about privacy.
As such, Google decided to stop monitoring users’ emails.
Ads will still be displayed
Closing down the feature does not mean that users will not see ads altogether. That is, the users will not see ads based on their emails. They will, however, still see advertisements that will be based on what they search for Google or videos they stream on YouTube.
Google’s efforts to become the market leader in Cloud
Since Greene’s induction as the Board Member of Google, the company has shifted its focus from advertising to delivering better Cloud services and compete against Microsoft and Amazon.
This is interesting since Google’s main revenue stream has been from such advertising platforms and not through the Cloud.
However, it seems that the move is going well as the G Suite already has a user base of 3 million paying customers and this is growing. Furthermore, there has been a remarkable increase in Google’s revenues with a growth rate of 49 percent.
This implies that the tech giant will stick to its new vision of becoming the leader in the Cloud industry and is ready to take down the existing big players.
