I am so incredibly angry with Google (but similarly with Microsoft and Apple who also pull this kind of shit). I pay Google for business-grade email that’s supposed to have no adverts. But this morning I discover this when logging into Gmail:
It’s an advert informing me that if I upgrade my edition of Google Workspace, I can protect my data with Google Vault. Firstly, this isn’t entirely true – Google Vault isn’t what you think it is. Secondly, why the bloody hell am I seeing this in my Gmail account? Do other administrators see it? Why did Google think it was such a good idea to put it in Gmail and not the administrative interface where it may have been better received?
In any event, promoting your own products this way is an utterly shitty way to go about things and it isn’t just Google that does this. Microsoft does it with Windows 11 and Apple does it with just about every device they sell. It’s intrusive, self-servicing, and potentially anti-competitive. And most of the time I’m already aware of what they offer, how much it costs, and what it does. Or I already have it. Pointless and <CENSORED> annoying.
I really hope that the EU commission and UK CMA investigate US Big Tech’s use of this kind of advertising and slap them with substantial fines, or – better still – threaten to break them up or kick them out.