Google has removed all ad scanning in Gmail for Apps for Education, stopping the collection or use of student data for advertising purposes.
In addition, the ‘enable/disable’ toggle for ads in the Administrator console has been permanently removed, meaning administrators no longer have the option or ability to turn on ads in the Apps for Education services.
The changes have been made to enhance the educational experience for Apps for Education customers, Bram Bout, Director, Google for Education, said in a blog post earlier this week.
“Today more than 30 million students, teachers and administrators globally rely on Google Apps for Education. Earning and keeping their trust drives our business forward. We know that trust is earned through protecting their privacy and providing the best security measures.”
Google ads have always been turned off by default in the Apps for Education services. Further steps were taken last year when ads from Google Search were removed for signed-in students, ensuring that they did not see ads when logging into their Apps for Education account from school or offsite.
All Google Apps customers can look forward to similar changes in the future, including Business, Government and legacy users of the free version. Google will provide updates when the rollout is complete.
