Google has announced plans to enhance its efforts in preventing spammers from sending messages to Gmail users. Starting February 2024, the company will introduce stricter measures, including the requirement for senders who dispatch over 5,000 daily messages to Gmail users to incorporate a one-click unsubscribe option in their emails. Additionally, these senders must authenticate their email addresses, verifying ownership of their domain names to prevent IP address spoofing.
Furthermore, Google may choose not to deliver messages from senders whose emails consistently receive a high rate of spam reports, defined by a “clear spam rate threshold” of 0.3%, as measured by Google’s Postmaster Tools. Google has also enlisted Yahoo to adopt these changes.
These actions underscore the ongoing battle between major tech companies and spammers who exploit open systems like email to disseminate fraudulent and bothersome messages. While machine learning techniques have been employed to combat spam, it remains a continual struggle as spammers continually devise new tactics to bypass filters.
These changes may potentially impact legitimate marketers who use email for customer outreach, particularly the requirement to facilitate easy unsubscribing. According to estimates from Kaspersky Anti-Virus, approximately half of all emails sent in 2022 were classified as spam.