Google in Hot Water for Sending Unwanted Ad Emails

A complaint against Google for sending unsolicited ad emails in Gmail has been filed by a European data privacy advocacy nonprofit claiming the company violated a European Court of Justice ruling, as reported earlier Wednesday by Reuters. 

The complaint, filed by Noyb (None Of Your Business), was sent to the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) claiming Google is sending Gmail users ads that look like normal emails. Noyb says this violates a 2021 court ruling, as these should count as direct marketing emails and require user consent.

Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Gmail does have a spam folder, but these ad emails were being sent directly to a user's inbox, according to Noyb. In the nonprofit's point of view, an unsolicited ad email, regardless of where it comes from, is spam. 

"It is quite simple. Spam is a commercial email sent without consent. And it is illegal. Spam does not become legal just because it is generated by the email provider," said Noyb lawyer Romain Robert in a press release.

Advertising remains Google's top revenue driver. Google parent Alphabet missed the $70 billion earnings forecast last quarter but it still brought in reported revenue of $69.7 billion. Of that, advertising made $56.3 billion. This also isn't the first time Google has been in the crosshairs of the CNIL -- the French data privacy watchdog hit Google with a 150 million euro fine earlier this year for making it difficult for people to refuse online trackers known as cookies.