There's no way to report spam on Google Drive

Recently, I've been getting a lot of spam notifications from Google Drive. Here's a sample:

The notifications come direct to my Android phone via the Drive app - they don't appear in my Gmail spam folder. There is no way to report the abuse.

If I go to the list of notification in the Android apps, there's no option to report that the notification is spam.

If I'm stupid enough to open the spam file, there is a context menu but - again - no way to report spam.

What about the detail pane? That'll have something, surely?

The details pane is useless.

Nope! Nothing.

Let me be me clear, just as Zawinski's law says "Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail" - so every Google app expands to be a vector for spam.

There's also no way to report the spam from the web version of Drive. The notifications simply don't appear there.

In typical Google fashion, there's no support forthcoming for users who are inundated with these messages. So the poor users howl into the void - desperate for Google to respond. But all Google will do is spout platitudes.

Tedious, isn't it?

You will notice that all the links point to sites which don't actually help! When people ask Google how they report spam - Google are utterly silent.

I think it is clear that Google have lost control of their platforms. There is no central authority in Google who is in charge of ensuring a consistent and pleasant user experience. Their customer service agents aren't empowered to actually help users - nor can they escalate emergent issues to management.

As an abusive monopoly, there's very little incentive for Google to fix this.

So, like a mug, I'm attempting to catch the passing eye of some Google employee who can raise this internally.

10 thoughts on “There's no way to report spam on Google Drive”

  3. - says:

    (Preface: Am Eng @ Google on a Google Drive adjacent team)
    I get these spam shares too and yea there probably should be a way to report directly from the notifications list.

    There should be a "Report abuse" button if you do the following:
    - Go to the the "Shared" tab at the bottom
    - Tap the 3 dot menu for the shared spam file (I think the spam file should appear in this tab)
    - Scroll to the bottom of the bottom sheet

    Reply

    1. @edent says:

      Unfortunately, that doesn't always work. The spammers quite often remove access soon after sharing - presumably to prevent a flood of post-notification abuse. So, in my case, the spam does not appear in the shared tab.

      Reply

  4. says:

    I've been using the "send feedback to Drive" option on the notification tab in the app. Every single time I get spam, I spam them. But soon enough, I'll just remove the app. I get more spam than actual use from Drive.



    Reply

  7. Neil says:

    Why can't the twitter agents escalate?

    So, like a mug, I'm attempting to catch the passing eye of some Google employee who can raise this internally.

    It is very disappointing that there is still a need for this given the number of incidents highlighting it over several years.

    Reply

  8. Katrina says:

    Glad to see I'm not alone, but frustrated to learn that everyone is getting the same response. No file, just these scummy notifications. Thanks for bringing this out into the light.

    Reply

  9. Frank says:

    One option that Google could add is to have a whitelist of who you share files with. All other files are blocked until you add the person.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *