Gmail caught mixing ads with regular emails, annoying many on the internet

Date:
Fri, 05 May 2023 22:13:33 +0000

Description:
Gmail users have been experiencing a flood of advertisements with some on mobile getting images too.

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Do you like ads in your Gmail account? No? Well, too bad because it looks
like were going to get even more. Screenshots from across the internet show users getting way more ads than usual on Gmail for desktop and mobile.

Advertisements are nothing new to Gmail , but theyre normally tucked away at the top of the Promotions and Social tabs where they can be easily ignored. The new placement, however, changes all that, integrating ads in between actual emails.

As a result, its much harder to tell the difference between the two at a glance even if they have an Ad icon signifying them as such. Intrusive ads

Looking at screenshots on Twitter , there doesn't appear to be any specific targeting behind the ads. It appears to be all at random. One user showed he had ads from Edible Arrangements and a job listing from the U.S. Border
Patrol . Another had a combination of Amazon and KFC . The intrusiveness is also pretty egregious on smartphones as some have gotten images alongside the ads taking up even more space.

It is worth pointing out that this Zerg Rush of advertisements isnt affecting every single user. Personally, we didnt see any changes on Gmail for desktop. Everything was business as usual. We did, however, see more ads than usual in the Promotions on the mobile version, although there were no extra images. Google's going ham with Gmail ads now pic.twitter.com/7ls0wTHoNR May 2, 2023 See more Benefit of the doubt

Now, to be fair to Google, its possible none of this is being done on
purpose. In a response to an upset user, the official Gmail account on
Twitter said the sudden influx of ads doesnt sound good and asked them to
send feedback via the Gmail Help tool. There also have been instances this year where bad actors would hijack the Google Ads network to push adult content to unsuspecting victims. In one instance, hackers were so bold to
push malware onto people.

On the other hand, its not like Google is innocent either. 80 percent of the companys revenue comes from digital ads, according to The Guardian . So the tech giant has more than enough reason to create new ways for businesses to advertise. In a recent report , The Financial Times claims to have seen an internal presentation where the tech giant aims to use generative AI to
create original advertisements drawing from those already created by human hands.

We would love to give Google the benefit of the doubt that this is another hijacking or some internal accident and not the start of another advertising program. At the time of this writing, the only official word weve heard so
far is the tweet from earlier. So, we asked Google if they would like to make a statement about these ads appearing inside Gmail accounts. Well update this story if we hear back.



Be sure to check out TechRadars recently updated list on the best ad blocker of 2023 . We have a feeling you might need one.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/gmail-caught-mixing-ads-with-regular-emails-ann oying-many-on-the-internet


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