Microsoft accuses Google of spamming Gmail users with ads

Firing a fresh salvo against arch-rival Google, Microsoft has claimed Google was spamming Gmail users with 'ads that look like real emails.'

In its latest attack against Google on the Scroogled.com website, Microsoft accused the internet search company of deploying a devious strategy to spam users with a Gmail redesign, supposedly aimed at cutting inbox clutter.

According to Microsoft, Google had gone beyond reading emails to target users with ads and was now using the information to send ads marked as unread emails directly to their accounts.

Microsoft's post goes on to elaborate on the manner in which spam from third-party advertisers appeared in the Promotions tab within the Gmail web client and was addressed from the 'no-reply@google.com' email account.

"Google violates your privacy by reading every single word of every single email sent to and from Gmail accounts so they can better target you with ads," the post read. "Now, they're going one step further over the line by using that same personal information to spam your inbox with ads that look like real emails.

"Your email provider should protect you from spam, but Google is doing just the opposite; they're reading your private email conversations and using what they find to push junk mail directly to your Gmail inbox."

Microsoft also added media reports slamming Google on the issue, with quotes from a number of publications including The Wall Street Journal, Time, The Atlantic and The New Yorker to boot.

The page on the website also features 'Top moments in spam history', while other sections cover email privacy and spam and additionally an infographic called "What does Google know about you?"

Gmail introduced a tabbed interface that allowed users sorting mail into different tabs based on the content or senders in May, and followed it up with serving advertisements disguised as emails in the 'Promotions' tab, in July.

In its defence Google said users were looking for new promotions when they looked for emails under the Promotions tab and that it was simply banking on that opportunity.

Google added, advertising partners were not provided any more access to users' email address or personal information than they did before.

Microsoft's Scroogled campaign against Google, launched in April, comprises a series of ad campaigns that appeared online, on television and in print. The ads depict Google as a duplicitous company focused more on profits and power and less on protection of people's privacy and providing unbiased search results.