If you were wondering whether Scroogled was done and dusted, wonder no more. Microsoft and Google played nicely for a few months with collaboration on mobile apps and such, but the age old rivalry is alive and kicking.
Redmond has just relaunched its Scroogled campaign in order to bring into spotlight, what it believes, are some of the unfair tactics that Google uses for its Gmail service.
This time the software titan is trying to show users that the search engine giant is displaying ads that look like real emails. Microsoft claims that the newly launched ‘Promotions’ tab has been designed to deliver spam ads to users.
Google has recently launched a Promotions tab in Gmail that Redmond believes is actually a way to capitalize on specific campaigns, and at the end of the day, distribute more ads to users:
“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. 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.”
The company takes the opportunity to encourage users to switch to its Outlook.com web based email service, and promises to protect user privacy much better than its direct rival:
“We don’t scan the content of your email to target you with ads, and don’t spam your inbox with ads that look like personal email.”
At the same time, Microsoft talks about a study conducted by GFK Roper that reveals that 89 percent of the users do not agree with the practice of making ads look like personal emails.
Yup, sounds and reads like a vintage Scroogled campaign, alright.
