Google LLC today announced that it’s introducing new requirements for bulk email senders with an aim to help keep Gmail safe, user-friendly and spam-free.

The new requirements, set to be introduced by February 2024, are designed to tackle spam and malicious emails. In a blog post, Neil Kumaran, group product manager of Gmail security and trust, noted that although Gmail’s artificial intelligence-powered defenses stop more than 99.9% of spam, phishing and malware from reaching inboxes, blocking nearly 15 billion unwanted emails every day, threats today are more complex and pressing than ever.

The new requirements will require bulk senders, those that send more than 5,000 messages to Gmail addresses per day, to authenticate their emails following well-established best practices. The need to authenticate emails is an extension of a previous requirement that emails sent to a Gmail address have some form of authentication, with unauthenticated messages to Gmail users dropping by 75%. By extending that requirement to all bulk emails, Google believes this will close loopholes exploited by attackers.

Google’s new requirements for bulk sending do not stop at authentication. Senders also soon will be required to give Gmail recipients the ability to unsubscribe from commercial email in one click and they must process unsubscribe requests within two days.

To ensure that senders are not sending unwanted mail, Google will also enforce a clear spam rate threshold that senders must stay under to ensure Gmail recipients aren’t bombarded with unwanted messages. The net result of all the changes is that users should see even less spam in their inboxes.

Should spammers decide to target inbox users on other email services, Google is not working alone on pushing for changes. Yahoo Inc. is one industry partner working with Google to implement the same changes.

“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 the interconnected world of email, that takes all of us working together.”

Google’s Kumaran noted that the changes are “like a tune-up for the email world and by fixing a few things under the hood, we can keep email running smoothly,” but noted that “just like a tune-up, this is not a onetime exercise. Keeping email more secure, user friendly and spam-free requires constant collaboration and vigilance from the entire email community.”

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