Gmail’s spam filter and automatic sorting are broken

Users’ inboxes have been flooded with promotional emails and warnings to “be careful.”

Some Gmail users have noticed that promotional emails that normally go to their own siloed tab have started flooding their inbox. Reports have been hitting the Google forums and Reddit that messages are bypassing the Updates and Promotional filters and going straight to Gmail inboxes. Some are also reporting seeing a banner at the top of some messages warning them to “be careful with this message,” explaining that it hasn’t been fully scanned for spam or malware.

Google acknowledged the issue, posting on the Workspace Status Dashboard:

Gmail users might see banners indicating missing spam checks.We are experiencing an issue with Gmail beginning on Saturday, 2026-01-24 05:02 US/Pacific. Users might experience the following banner: “Be careful with this message. Gmail hasn’t scanned this message for spam, unverified senders, or harmful software.”We advise the users to be extra diligent in lieu of missing spam checks. Our engineering team is investigating the issue. We will provide an update by Saturday, 2026-01-24 09:30 with current details.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Sunday 25 January 2026 at 4:20 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025: 5,700+

RIP Matrix