No More Ads, Please! Gmail Users Revolt Against Google's Latest Update

Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG GOOGL decision to add more advertisements to Gmail, including some in the middle of email lists, is receiving major backlash from users. 

What Happened: For some unknown reason, Google has decided to start showing ads within the email lists instead of just staying at the top of the Gmail tabs. The only saving grace is that the platform hasn’t started showing in the primary inbox. 

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Unsurprisingly, users are not happy with this change and are demanding that Google reverses this update — maybe because the tech giant has failed to provide any satisfactory reasoning behind this decision. 

However, some users also take Google’s side, saying people unhappy with Gmail now showing inline ads should pay for the service or find another ad-free platform. 

A Google spokesperson confirmed that Gmail started displaying ads in the Promotions tab between messages on mobile last year. She also said that the tech giant had expanded the feature to the desktop version of Gmail, reported The Verge. 

"We are always experimenting with ads formats and working on ways to help people discover and connect with new businesses. The Promotions tab shows promotional emails from businesses that people subscribe to, as well as offers and deals from companies people might like. We rolled out in-stream ads in the Promotions tab last year across mobile and in the past month expanded to desktop as well,” a Google spokesperson told Benzinga in an emailed statement.

Why It’s Important: This isn’t the first time Google has faced severe criticism for rolling out an update without giving users proper heads-up. 

Last month, Google implemented a system update that imposed a five-million item limit on Google Drive accounts but rolled back the decision because of a major backlash.  

Google offers various storage plans for Google Drive, which include different amounts of storage space (including email) at different prices. As of May 2023, the monthly cost for additional Google Drive storage ranges from $1.99 per month for 100 GB to $299.99 per month for 30 TB. Google also offers a free plan with 15 GB of storage space.

However, users who are subscribed to such plans also receive advertisements in their inboxes.

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