Your Google name and photo can now be used for ads

Google will be updating its Terms of Service to allow the company to share your reviews and endorsements for advertising purposes — but you can opt out.

On 11 November, Google's Terms of Service will be updating to allow Google by default to use your Google account name and photograph in advertisements.

How it will work is that every time you +1, comment on a post or follow a vendor, Google may share that action as something called "Shared Endorsements".

"Recommendations from people you know can really help," Google said in a blog post. "So your friends, family and others may see your Profile name and photo, and content, like the reviews you share or the ads you +1'd."

Google is careful to note that you can choose who sees this content and that you can opt out in your Shared Endorsements settings (uncheck the box at the bottom of the page and hit the "save" button).

Shared Endorsements is an upgrade to Google's existing +1 Personalisation feature; as such, if you have already disabled sharing your +1s, that setting will remain in place. To further control what ads you see, you can visit your Google profile Ads Settings.