Gmail’s Spam Filter and Auto-Sorting Features Are Malfunctioning

Some Gmail users may have noticed an influx of promotional emails that typically land in their designated tab now appearing directly in their inbox. Reports have surfaced on various forums that these messages are skipping the Updates and Promotions filters entirely. Additionally, some users have spotted a warning banner on certain emails advising them to “be careful with this message,” indicating that it hasn’t undergone a complete scan for spam or malware.

Google has acknowledged the situation, sharing an update on their 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 users to be extra cautious due to the absence of spam checks. Our engineering team is currently investigating the issue. We will provide an update by Saturday, 2026-01-24 09:30 with current details.

By the afternoon, reports of the issue began to decline, and at 8:28 PM ET, Google updated the Status Dashboard to confirm that the problem had been resolved:
> The issue with Gmail email classification is resolved as of Saturday, 2026-01-24 09:55 US/Pacific. We will publish an analysis of this incident once we have completed our internal investigation. We appreciate your patience while we worked to resolve the issue.

Updated January 24th: The issue has been resolved.