Google now lets you mute an ad because it 'knew too much'

Google is in the business of knowing all it can about you, and sometimes, it can come off as a bit creepy.

The search giant now lets you tell it as much through a muting tool built into each of its third-party display ads. As one Reddit user pointed out, the feature includes an option to report that a given "ad knew too much."

This ad, for a report that I've downloaded in the past, definitely knew too much. Credit: screenshots

The company says it uses this feedback to avoid showing you the same ad again across any device or browser on which you are signed into your Google account.

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Google, the web's largest ad company, commands around 42 percent of the online ads market as a whole. That share includes display ads placed on millions of third-party sites through Google's various ad platforms. Those ads are targeted based on your browsing history, your perceived interests, your personal account information, and other attributes Google's algorithms have ascertained.

The company does now let you turn off or customize this sort of ad personalization in your account settings (Click your account avatar in the top right corner of a Google page, then "My Account," and "Ad settings" under "Personal info & privacy").

Google's ad personalization settings Credit: google

You can also block individual advertisers and ads on Google searches, YouTube, Gmail, and independent sites through the new built-in tools, which a Google spokesperson said the company added earlier this year.

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