Google’s privacy policy, effective October 16, still says it does not show personalized ads based on content from Drive, Gmail or Google Photos, and now adds a condition: “unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads.” The EU edition of the policy, in English and in German, carries the same Gmail ad exception. Yet the Search help page on connecting content apps lists 191 countries and territories where that connection is available to users 18 and above, and no EU member state is among them. Google’s page gives no reason, and we give none either.
Does Google use Gmail content to personalize ads now?
The policy says Google does not show personalized ads based on your Drive, Gmail or Google Photos content, unless you choose to make data from those services available to other Google services that support personalized ads. An opt-in of this kind is described on Google’s Search help page, which says “You get to choose if you want to connect your content apps to Search Services.” The policy’s sentence letting services such as Search access data from other Google services is followed by an example: “Search may process some of the data that you allow Search to access to personalize content, including ads.” The pledge itself was kept. Google’s October 1 sentence ended “Drive, Gmail, or Photos.”; the clause after “Google Photos” is the October 16 insertion, according to Google’s own redline.
Which apps does each Google text name?
The pledge, the access sentence and the help page do not list the same apps. The table shows what each text names, nothing more.
| Text | Drive | Gmail | Calendar | Photos |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Policy pledge | Named | Named | Not named | Named |
| Policy access sentence | Named | Named | Not named | Named |
| Help: connectable apps | Not listed | Listed | Listed, US English only | Listed, not in all regions |
| Help: ads answer | Not named | “Gmail inbox” | Not named | “Google Photos library” |
The help page says the connectable Workspace apps are “currently Gmail and Google Calendar, with other Workspace apps coming soon”. It does not name Drive in that sentence. No Google sentence we read names Calendar in connection with ads, and none excludes it: the pledge does not name Calendar. Drive is covered by the pledge and its new exception, but the help page does not list Drive among the apps Search can connect. What the texts show is that the pledge, the product and the ads answer name different apps.
Where does the EU fit in?
We opened the policy with an EU locale (British English for Germany) and in German. The English edition is dated “Effective 16 October 2026” and the German one “Wirksam ab dem 16. Oktober 2026”, and the German text reads: “es sei denn, Sie stellen Daten aus diesen Diensten für andere Google-Dienste zur Verfügung, die personalisierte Werbung unterstützen.” The Search access sentence is there too.
The help page for connecting content apps says it is “available to users 18 and above in the following countries, territories, and languages”. We counted 191 entries. None of the 27 EU member states appears, nor Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, the United Kingdom or Switzerland. The rendering for Germany shows the same list. Google’s page offers no explanation, so this is a gap we can describe and not one we can interpret. Nor does it tell us how the exception applies to any EU account. For a separate Google ad-data change in that region, see our report on IP-based ad personalization in the EEA, UK and Switzerland.
What does the help page say about ads?
Google’s help page 16859283 answers the question directly: “Ads will not be based directly on your Gmail inbox or your Google Photos library.” It continues: “If you connect your content apps to Search Services, Search may reference summaries, excerpts and inferences from these sources to personalize your experience and do things for you. That same info may be used to show you ads, so they are even more helpful for you.” On advertisers, it says “advertisers will not have access to your Gmail inbox or Google Photos.”
One connection opens a lot. The page notes that “all Search services will be permitted to access” the connected apps, and lists Search (including AI Mode and Discover), Maps, Shopping, Flights, Hotel, Translate and News. A banner warns the settings “are being updated so may not match your current experience.”
Search Engine Roundtable reports that Google told Search Engine Land on Friday, October 16, the day the policy took effect, that it is starting to test ads in AI Mode for users who connect their apps through Personal Intelligence. For how AI Mode is counted on the publisher side, see our note on links and impressions in Google’s AI Search.
Which controls do the pages point to?
The policy sends you to ad settings: “You can control what information we use to show you ads by visiting your ad settings in My Ad Center.” The help page points elsewhere, saying “You can adjust your settings, including disconnecting content apps from Search services, at any time.” The Personalized Recommendations help page describes results, feeds and AI responses and does not mention ads. The Verge, which reported the change on October 23 after Android Authority spotted it, suggests disconnecting apps or disabling Personalized Recommendations.
No Google page we read says that turning off Personalized Recommendations stops this particular use of connected data. One limit is stated: “Disconnecting a connected Google content app or deleting any data in that app doesn’t delete any data from your Search Services History.”