Gmail is set to introduce new measures to protect users from receiving excess and unwanted emails in an update that we’re all happy to see.
In a company blog post, Gmail Security & Trust Group Product Manager, Neil Kumaran, said: “Starting in 2024, we’ll require bulk senders to authenticate their emails, allow for easy unsubscription and stay under a reported spam threshold.”
The new measures set to come into play in the coming months specifically target senders targeting more than 5,000 Gmail addresses per day in a move that’s designed to cut down spam messages.
Gmail anti-spam campaign
Speaking of existing measures, Kumaran said that Gmail’s requirement for authentication has seen the number of unauthenticated messages received by the platform’s users drop by 75%.
As part of the changes, Google said: “we're requiring those who send significant volumes to strongly authenticate their emails following well-established best practices,” which includes the adoption of SPF and DKIM.
Google will also be requiring certain senders to make unsubscribing from emails quick and simple. The guidance says that it “should take one click” and that requests should be processed “within two days.”
Kumaran says that this requirement will ultimately benefit all email users, because such changes would be relevant to any recipient including non Gmail users, however it’s unclear quite how Google will police and support this requirement.
The email provider’s final update for 2024 is a self-proclaimed industry first. An undisclosed threshold is set to be imposed, and senders emailing more frequently than this will likely be penalized.
Google isn’t the only company making changes to protect email users. Marcel Becker, Senior Director of Product at Yahoo, said that the company “looks forward to working with Google and the rest of the email community to make these common sense, high-impact changes the new industry standard.”
Full guidance of the upcoming changes are available to view on Google’s support page.
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