Gmail’s strong filters have reliably sifted out promotions and updates for years if you’ve wanted them to. But now there are reports that things are going wrong and inboxes are being overloaded with unwanted messages.

Gmail seems to be having problems.

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“Gmail’s filter system has been a strong way to quiet the noise of constant promotional emails and updates, but it might be broken. We are seeing several reports of Google’s email service not filtering emails as inboxes blow up,” Andrew Romero at 9to5Google reported. The site added that the issue is widespread among users.

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When The Gmail Filter Issue Began

The issue began on the morning of Saturday, Jan. 24, when the Promotions and Updates filters seemed to have broken down for some users. The reports came from Reddit users, Google’s official forums and even some 9to5Google staff. “My promotional emails are all going to primary inbox. I did not change anything and this just started happening today,” one user commented on a Google forum. Another said that something changed overnight, with the same result that updates and promotions landed in the inbox. “Changing settings didn’t fix,” they commented, with another commenting, “How do I stop these?’

Inbox Flooding Replaces Gmail’s Usual Order

Instead of the orderly way the filters have worked, “notifications have been pouring in nonstop for some,” the report went on. “These emails are from companies and businesses whose emails would normally be filtered into either the Promotions or Updates tabs. Google’s redesign in 2013 introduced the automatic filters, and users have become more than used to the reduced amount of notifications that have followed since.”

No Response From Google Yet

So far, there’s been no response from Google, though the initial report claimed that not only had more emails appeared in the inbox but checking the Promotions and Updates tabs seemed to show that “no new emails since the problem first began occurring seem to have been filtered in. In essence, the automatic system that sorts or filters emails into each of Gmail’s inbox categories seems to have broken for the time being,” it said.

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