Mastodawn

EDIT: The Malwarebytes article has been updated:

"After taking a closer look at Google’s documentation and reviewing other reporting, that doesn’t appear to be the case."

This confusion could've been easily avoided if Google was more clear in how they communicate with their users.

ORIGINAL:

PSA to anyone who uses Gmail!

"Reportedly, Google has recently started automatically opting users in to allow Gmail to access all private messages and attachments for training its AI models. This means your emails could be analyzed to improve Google’s AI assistants, like Smart Compose or AI-generated replies. Unless you decide to take action."

https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2025/11/gmail-is-reading-your-emails-and-attachments-to-train-its-ai-unless-you-turn-it-off

[Correction] Gmail can read your emails and attachments to power "smart features"

Did you know that Gmail can use your emails and attachments for its smart features? Here's how to check your settings.

Malwarebytes

Richard W. Woodley ELBOWS UP 🇨🇦🌹🚴‍♂️📷 🗺️Nov 20

I think I've done this but I'm going to double check.

.vad//hakara🧭Nov 20

@stefan So even though I've just opted out, they presumably have already scanned all the stuff I already had in my account before the moment I toggled those switches, and won't be giving up that data even if they say they will. Awesome.

Stefan Bohacek Nov 20

@vadhakara Yeah, this feels like a symbolic action. I'm sure there will be more settings to check off soon.

It's probably best to find a good replacement for Gmail at this point, or at least not use it for anything sensitive.

@stefan @vadhakara already done just that
Proton or tuta mail.

shadytr33 Nov 21

@kcpoole @stefan @vadhakara Don't forget Thunderbird.

@shadytr33 @stefan @vadhakara use tbird for mt self hosted email

I believe Google has already read your email under the guise of fighting spam and malware 😌

Always encrypt your emails with OpenPGP. Also consider setting up a web key directory so that others can seamlessly encrypt emails for you.

#privacy #email #google

RE: https://stefanbohacek.online/@stefan/115584352297149608

Energyjacket Nov 21

@nawanp @stefan It is better to use an encrypted provider such as Proton or Tuta.

ArcadiaRhod Nov 20

@stefan Damn. I didn't realise that ran all the sorting Gmail provides like labels etc... and I use the feature a lot.

Will need to rejig the mailbox dammit.

Stefan Bohacek Nov 20

@arcadiarhod Yeah, pretty insidious bundling this all together.

ringtail Nov 21

@stefan @arcadiarhod fr, email is unuseable without the label organizing...

ArcadiaRhod Nov 21

@stefan absolutely. That's so painful to undo.

Angela G Nov 20

@stefan
Thank you!

eestileib (she/hers)Nov 21

The great thing is that when I turned it off, it dumped a bunch of historical spam into my inbox.

Just jerks

Stefan Bohacek Nov 21

@eestileib Ah, that stinks!

Stephen I Moore Nov 21

@eestileib Same. It's real malicious compliance BS.
"Oh I can't train my precious - then you loose ALL THE FEATURES!!"
Everything is so stupid.

eestileib (she/hers)Nov 21

It's basically only spam left on my Gmail accounts anyway so it's not the worst, but geez.

lemgandi Nov 21

@stefan Dumped them for proton a few months back. The only thing goin' to that account is spam. May they enjoy it.

PeachMcD Nov 21

@stefan Appreciate the info! Shared!

@stefan I particularly despise the "When you turn this on..." description in mobile, it's on by default!

@stefan @User47

I stopped using gmail in 2010 when they used my divorce lawyer’s correspondence to serve me ads for Match.com in the gmail sidebar. What the fuck else does it take you people to quit using this shit?

@bflipp @stefan gotta accept everyone where they are and nudge from there. I ditched Microsoft, deleted my meta and dead bird accounts… Imagine I’ll get there, eventually. Problem is, the product is really good. And sticky

@User47 @stefan

The product is not really good. It’s abusive. It’s been abusive for decades. And everyone has had decades to leave. For many of you they have turned your private correspondence into billions of dollars you’ll never see a cent of. They’ll sell everything you’ve ever written or received. They’ll build a profile of you based off of your Amazon receipts and your Facebook notification emails. Everyone needs to be MUCH more angry.

Ludwig Vielfrass Nov 21

@bflipp @stefan @User47 I still have mine, but it mostly serves as my spam trap like my Yahoo email account so many years ago.

@lerxst @stefan @User47

You should probably delete it. There are cheap services to create unlimited one off emails for every service that you can use to completely eliminate spam from your life forever.

Abram Kedge🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇨🇦Nov 21

@bflipp @stefan @User47 I tried to ditch Gmail this year. Everything* new uses my Tuta account.

Problem is, there are some accounts that use my Gmail address for log in and verification. Some do not support changing the email address (including government sites, seriously, WTF?), and there's that nagging worry that I may have missed something important.

So the Gmail account is in an undead state.

* It does get used for new stuff that I know is going to start spamming me, basically it is my bad netizen tarpit.

@AbramKedge @stefan @User47

There are cheap services to create one off emails for everything. There is no need to use a zombie gmail address as a spam trap when you can just delete an alias when you discover it’s been sold or compromised. You also never have to worry about credential leaks like this either because that’s how your email address gets passed around for spammers anyway.

@stefan THANK YOU ❤️

Stefan Bohacek Nov 21

@CrisColor You're very welcome!

@stefan Mine were turned off by default. Is this a US thing?

Stefan Bohacek Nov 21

@altf4 It might be!

@stefan I think they can't legally do this here. They will probably do a sneaky popup you might click for it to go away

@altf4 @stefan even more fun: I've consistently disabled "smart"-anything in Gmail. the checkbox says "when you turn this setting on..."

... and it's on. there is absolutely no way I ever turned that setting on.

@stefan sure enough, these settings were on for me. Thanks for the heads up.

@stefan Does this apply to people who only use IMAP to access a Gmail account?

Stefan Bohacek Nov 21

@phil_stevens Good question, but I'm not sure, sorry! Best to probably just check your settings and make sure it's all disabled.

@stefan Thanks. Did that and saw nothing to indicate that they're actually trawling through the folders, so this could be happening further up application stack. I honestly cannot remember the last time I logged into Gmail via its desktop interface.

Oh. Better check my phone 😠

Toot Ωncommon - SHUT 🇺🇸 DOWN Nov 21

@stefan We can simply whine and moan about it while clicking some switches. OR. We could also send random gibberish word salad emails with incorrect grammar and made up words to info@google (or other generic corporate email accounts that never reply).

@opethminded @stefan lol, I used to do that in FB as a little e-terrorism/diversion activity and it worked for a little while. I think they might have built filters in for that kind of shenanigans bc after a couple of months I was getting targeted ads again.

[Yaseenist] CauseOfBSOD Nov 21

@stefan already off for me thankfully

@stefan I wonder if including a random paragraph or word salad in communications with every gmail user is best for gumming up the works. Anyone have a guess?

Lee Hauser Nov 21

@stefan Would it be correct to assume email *sent* to a Gmail address would be suck-upable as well? I use Gmail only for a couple of peripheral accounts, but I correspond pretty heavily with Gmail users.

Stefan Bohacek Nov 21

@lhauser Good question! I'd hope not, as there would be no way to opt out, but your guess is as good as mine.

★Pope Miller the Defondor, SBI Nov 21

@lhauser @stefan If they already can scan your mail, why *should* they limit that to your outgoing mails or drafts?! Eh? 😉

The only way to avoid that scanning as a non-gmail-user is to not correspond with gmal-users at all.
And tell them, why.

@miller
Even if you avoid Gmail yourself, you may be a member of some mailing list. It's almost guaranteed at least one other member will be using Gmail, so you can't really avoid AI being trained on your text then.
@lhauser @stefan

Anne Delong Nov 21

Thanks! I don't use gmail, but a family member does and the settings are changed.

Mags at Large Nov 21

@stefan Done. Thank you for posting this.

autumnstuff Nov 21

@stefan did this.

Simulflow 🇨🇦 🇰🇷 🇺🇦 🇵🇸Nov 21

@stefan Thanks, done!

celeste_hearts_disability_pride

@stefan

Sneaky Bastards!
Thank you for that.

Bill, organizer of stuff Nov 21

@stefan And if you turn it off, it also turns off the automatic email classification into spam/promotions/etc.

.vad//hakara🧭Nov 21

@wcbdata @stefan Not filtering spam would be shooting themselves in the foot, there's no way that gets turned off, right?

@vadhakara I'm assuming Google still does spam filtering but I can confirm it turns off the automatic labelling of things as "promotions" vs "social" vs whatever. That was always useless for me and moreover made really questionable decisions so no big loss as far as I'm concerned.

@wcbdata @stefan

Bill, organizer of stuff Nov 21

@zeborah @vadhakara @stefan EDITED: That's correct - the Spam folder still works. 🙂

Bugspriet Nov 21

@stefan I will have to examine that.

Cannot deactivate those buttons.

Christiaan Moleman Nov 21

@Bugspriet @stefan I think that's because the larger Smart setting is turned off, so all of it is turned off which you can see if you scroll down (it's like this in my settings). I think in Europe all this crap is turned off by default because without active consent Google would be violating EU law a thousand ways.

Ring <3 Rootkitty Nov 21

@stefan well that's suddenly deeply concerning