Hey Google, you're not fooling anyone.

The tech giant made a play for Washington Post print edition readers today in the form of three full-page ads extolling its commitment to privacy. Firefox, it seems, isn't buying it.

The advertisements, running on page A7, A9, and A11, vary in the specifics, but all push the general theme that Google puts you in charge of your data.

"Turn it on," begins one of the ads. "Turn it off. You control what data gets saved."

Which is a nice sentiment. The issue, of course, is whether or not there's any truth to the claim.

"Grand gestures are nice, but you know what's even better," asked Firefox in a Thursday morning tweet. "Making privacy the default in the first place."

Grand gestures are nice, but you know what's even better?



Making privacy the default in the first place. https://t.co/3zkYjVCIMC — Firefox 🔥 (@firefox) September 19, 2019

The ads call to mind a similar, and similarly derided, newspaper ad buy from Facebook. In that case, Mark Zuckerberg was attempting to apologize for the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal.

It appears that this time around, Google is simply trying to get ahead of things.

"We'll walk you through your privacy settings, step by step," reads another of the three ads.

Unfortunately for Google, a company currently entangled in numerous scandals and investigations, the ads appear to have missed the mark.

“There is no tech backlash.” https://t.co/J6hye4U5FI — Nick Heer (@nickheer) September 19, 2019

Buying ads doesn’t build trust. Actions do. https://t.co/MLumxKV8uW — Giri Sreenivas (@giri_sreenivas) September 19, 2019

But hey, at least Google is supporting print journalism!

Now excuse me while I go spend hours tweaking my Google settings in a vain attempt to claw back a semblance of privacy.