Google is unveiling a series of significant modifications to how it manages emails from mass senders in a bid to reduce spam and undesired messages.
Starting next year, Google will enforce requirements on bulk senders, mandating email authentication, providing a simple unsubscribe option, and staying within a specified spam threshold.
These changes will affect any entity sending more than 5,000 emails to Gmail addresses in a single day. This broad category encompasses various businesses, including large retailers, major tech companies, smaller startups, B2C firms, and newsletter authors employing email marketing.
Google emphasizes that it already employs AI technology to thwart over 99.9% of spam, phishing, and malware, blocking a staggering 15 billion unwanted emails each day.
However, as technology advances, Google recognizes the need to bolster its defenses for its two-decade-old email system.
One of the key adjustments involves Gmail’s reinforcement of its authentication policy, initiated last year, which mandated that emails sent to Gmail addresses have some form of sender authentication.
This was deemed essential because many bulk senders neglected to properly secure and configure their systems, leaving vulnerabilities for potential attackers to exploit.
Although this initial policy reduced unauthenticated messages by 75%, Google will now require bulk senders to implement strong email authentication practices in line with documented best practices by February 2024.
Additionally, bulk senders will be required to offer a one-click unsubscribe option and process unsubscribe requests within a two-day timeframe.
Controversially, Google will also introduce a clear spam rate threshold, a first in the industry. If a sender’s emails are marked as spam by a substantial number of users, it could result in the sender losing access to users’ inboxes.
Google is announcing these changes well in advance of its implementation in 2024 and is actively collaborating with industry partners to adopt these new policies.
“No matter who their email provider is, all users deserve the safest, most secure experience possible,” said Marcel Becker, senior director of Product at Yahoo, in a statement.
“In the interconnected world of email, that takes all of us working together. Yahoo looks forward to working with Google and the rest of the email community to make these common sense, high-impact changes to the new industry standard,” he added.
