Google has multiple online services that are used by billions of people worldwide. In an effort to make its services better and take feedback on the app responsiveness, Google often collects data about the apps and users, which would help them to resolve issues and add more features to the platform. One of such services to do that is Gmail, which has millions of users. However, the recent antitrust issues and data privacy issues on multiple social media and online platforms have made the consumer more aware of their personal data being shared with such companies.
Due to this, users will now have the option in Gmail, Google Chat, and Meet to turn off the collection of personal data with just one button. The feature was added to the latest versions of the platform and it will make Google ask for permission to personalize or offer to disable it altogether. By personalization, Google means that it will be analyzing emails and will automatically be categorizing them. It will also add and enhance features like smart typing, quick replies, shopping cards, reservations, and calendar events.
The same data is also used by Google to place relevant ads on the platform as per the user’s choice. However, if the users select to disable the feature of data collection, the services on platforms like Gmail will work in a limited manner. The feature has been specially added for people who simply like to use the basic functionality of the platform, without any enhanced feature and data sharing.