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Google lets you report ads that know ‘too much’ about you, but there's a creepy catch

The company uses people’s feedback to improve the accuracy of its targeting

Aatif Sulleyman

Wednesday 27 September 2017 12:43 BST

The Google logo is seen on display at the company's headquarters October 18, 2007 in Mountain View, California (Getty)

Google has started letting people report adverts that know “too much” about them.

The company delivers personalised display ads that are targeted at individual users, based on a number of factors.

These include your interests, demographics, cookies you’ve collected across the web, the types of website you visit and the apps you use.

11 hidden Google Chrome features you didn't know existed

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1/1111 hidden Google Chrome features you didn't know existed

11 hidden Google Chrome features you didn't know existed

Easter Eggs

There are a lot of Easter Eggs hidden in Chrome, and more and more are discovered each year. One of our favourites is the dinosaur game. The next time you fail to connect to the internet on Chrome, tap the spacebar. It’s also worth Googling “barrel roll”, “zerg rush”, “super mario bros” (and clicking the question mark graphic), “festivus”, “recursion”, “askew” and “atari breakout” (and then clicking Images).

11 hidden Google Chrome features you didn't know existed

Pin tabs

If you tend to browse with a lot of tabs open at once, you can clear up the clutter by pinning the ones you’re least likely to close. Right-click them and select Pin Tab. They’ll automatically shrink and slide left.

11 hidden Google Chrome features you didn't know existed

Save battery

You can save some battery life by sacrificing performance. In Settings, scroll down to the System section and uncheck the box reading Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed. We wouldn’t recommend having this feature enabled all the time, but it could come in handy if you’re nowhere near a charger.

11 hidden Google Chrome features you didn't know existed

Browse faster

There are loads of Chrome Extensions available, but one of the most useful is Google’s Data Saver. It compresses the pages you visit to reduce data usage and speed up loading times.

11 hidden Google Chrome features you didn't know existed

Make multiple profiles

If you use multiple Google accounts, for work and for personal use, for instance, you can keep your bookmarks and browsing history for each account separate by creating individual profiles. Go to Settings, Manage People and Add Person. This is also handy for when you lend your computer to a friend, and you don’t want them to have access to your internet history.

11 hidden Google Chrome features you didn't know existed

Downloads

Many users would prefer it if Chrome downloaded files straight to the desktop, but by default it sends them to your Downloads folder. You can change this by going to Settings, opening the Show Advanced Settings menu, clicking Downloads and choosing your preferred destination.

11 hidden Google Chrome features you didn't know existed

Extra info

To see cookies and permissions for every site you visit, click the View Site Information symbol on the left-hand edge of the omnibar. It will also let you quickly control things like Popup and Location settings.

11 hidden Google Chrome features you didn't know existed

Task manager

You can quickly find out which pages are using up the most memory and slowing down your browsing experience by opening the burger menu, going down to More Tools and opening the Chrome Task Manager.

11 hidden Google Chrome features you didn't know existed

Calculator

When you’re online and need to do a quick sum, you don’t have to hunt down your computer calculator or whip out your phone. Just type it into the Chrome omnibar and hit Enter.

11 hidden Google Chrome features you didn't know existed

Startup

If there’s a certain set of pages you always open when you turn your computer on, you can get Chrome to open them automatically when you launch the browser. In Settings, click Set Pages in the On Startup section, and choose the ones you want.

11 hidden Google Chrome features you didn't know existed

Search Gmail from omnibar

You can search your gmail inbox directly from the omnibar by going to Settings, Manage Search Engines, scrolling to the bottom and pasting https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/u/0/#apps/%s into the box on the right-hand side.

You can report ads you don’t want to see again, but you need to tell Google why. The feedback options usually offered by Google are:

Ad was inappropriate
Seen this ad multiple times
Not interested in this ad
Ad covered content

However, a new option has just been spotted. Reddit user ultimatemanan97 this week posted a screengrab of a box reading: “Ad knew too much”.

It’s a nod to how creepily accurate personal ads can be.

Google uses people’s feedback to determine the accuracy of its information and improve its ad targeting.

I haven’t yet been able to view the “Ad knew too much” option, but it has also been spotted by Mashable.

Though it may be tempting to choose the new option when you feel an ad is too precise for your liking, fellow Reddit users reacting to the post have pointed out that doing so would essentially confirm to Google that its information was spot on.

“I see this and it's brilliantly evil,” wrote SsurebreC. “If you click this option, you're confirming to Google that the ad was absolutely on point and to not only continue to serve ads similar to this but to validate the data they have as legitimate.”

Another user, called Lucifer-yellow, suggested that people should try to trick the system: “My petty revenge is that when the ‘ad knew too much’ I will report it as ‘Ad covered content’ and if the ad is irrelevant I will report it as ad knew too much etc.”

You can change your personalisation controls in Ads Settings.

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