Yahoo Mail users’ shopping-related emails are being scanned for information which is used by advertisers to put users into interest groups and show targeted ads, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal. The Verizon-owned company that runs Yahoo’s web properties, Oath, is reportedly alone in the practice. Google stopped in 2017, while Microsoft said it has never scanned emails for this purpose. Oath uses algorithms to scan commercial emails, such as order confirmations, searching for keywords that indicate purchasing habits. In a blog post on Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote about how his company’s new privacy policy will protect user data from “misuse” — but not scanning email content without consent.
Yahoo Mail users’ shopping-related emails are being scanned for information which is used by advertisers to put users into interest groups and show targeted ads, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal. The Verizon-owned company that runs Yahoo’s web properties, Oath, is reportedly alone in the practice. Google stopped in 2017, while Microsoft said it has never scanned emails for this purpose. Oath uses algorithms to scan commercial emails, such as order confirmations, searching for keywords that indicate purchasing habits. Oath confirmed the practice in an updated privacy policy issued in April 2018.