Google has stated that email users must 'necessarily expect' their emails to be subject to automated processing and claims that the service refrains from displaying ads next to potentially sensitive messages, such as those mentioning race, religion, sexual orientation, health, or financial statements. The company has been the subject of lawsuits concerning the issues. This advertising practice has been significantly criticized by privacy advocates due to concerns over unlimited data retention, ease of monitoring by third parties, users of other email providers not having agreed to the policy upon sending emails to Gmail addresses, and the potential for Google to change its policies to further decrease privacy by combining information with other Google data usage. Google's mail servers automatically scan emails for multiple purposes, including to filter spam and malware, and to add context-sensitive advertisements next to emails. The service is notable among website developers for its early adoption of Ajax. Gmail has a search-oriented interface and a 'conversation view' similar to an Internet forum. In order to send larger files, users can insert files from Google Drive into the message.

Users can receive emails up to 50 megabytes in size, including attachments, while they can send emails up to 25 megabytes. Users in need of more storage can purchase Google One to increase this 15GB limit. Today, the service comes with 15 gigabytes of storage for free, which is divided among other Google services, such as Google Drive, and Google Photos.

Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP and IMAP protocols.Īt its launch in 2004, Gmail provided a storage capacity of one gigabyte per user, which was significantly higher than its competitors offered at the time. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or through the official mobile application. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide making it the largest email service in the world. Gmail is a free email service provided by Google.

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