Google Drive

Google is ‘making it a priority’ to fix sharing spam issues with Drive

Ben Schoon | Jan 4 2019 - 12:10 pm PT

Google Drive is an excellent platform not just for storage, but sharing and collaborating on files. However, there’s been a spam issue hiding in plain sight, and now the company intends to fix complaints with Google Drive in this area.

Noted by How-To Geek, Google Drive’s sharing system has had a problem for quite some time that makes it susceptible to spam.

The issue, essentially, is that anyone can share any files with you so long as they have your email address, and you can’t fully remove them from your account. Sharing a file with someone else doesn’t require their permission, and they can’t fully remove all traces of that shared file or folder. The “remove” button only hides it from view with the file in question still surfacing in search and other areas.

Odds are, it’s not an issue you’ve had much trouble with, but it can be frustrating if it comes up. One user which How-To Geek sources notes that a folder their ex controls is still showing in their account. Yikes. Making matters worse, there’s really nothing you can do to fix this at the moment.

Thankfully, Google is on the case. A spokesperson confirmed that making changes to how Google Drive handles sharing, specifically in avoiding spam, is a priority. How the company plans on doing that, however, is still largely unclear.

For the vast majority of users, the default sharing permissions in Drive work as intended. Unfortunately, this was not the case for this user and we sincerely apologize for her experience. In light of this issue, we are evaluating changes to our spam, abuse, and blocking features that will prevent this kind of activity from taking place on Drive. In the interim, users who are experiencing similar issues can remove themselves from the folder, and the folder should not reappear in either “My Drive” or “Shared with Me” unless they revisit it.