Gmail

Google has fixed a Gmail issue that broke the spam filter for some users

Ben Schoon | Jul 6 2020 - 5:27 am PT

Gmail is the email service of choice for billions of people around the world, so any issues affecting even a portion of users are a relatively big deal. Over the past week, some Gmail users have noticed that the spam filter isn’t working properly, but Google has since fixed the issue.

User reports from Twitter, Reddit, and other platforms reveal that an issue popped up during the last week of June and the first week of July 2020 where Gmail’s spam filter wasn’t working as intended. As a result, some emails that would have been captured by the filter and kept away from the user’s eyes instead showed up directly in the inbox.

Whatever the cause of this issue, Google has apparently fixed it. The company offered a statement to the folks over at Android Police that reads:

We have identified and since fixed the issue of a small number of promotional emails and spam being incorrectly sent to users’ primary inboxes. During this time, scans to filter malware and the most egregious spam and harmful content remained fully operational. Additionally, Gmail users remained protected by the many other features such as link protections and download time security scans which apply for messages in the inbox.

We have no reason to believe any accounts were compromised as a result. If you happen to notice a suspicious email, we encourage you to report it as spam. More information on how to report spam can be found by visiting our Help Center.

There’s no cause for concern regarding what happened here, thankfully. If your account was affected, simply delete the spam emails that breached your inbox and you’ll be good to go.