Update Lets You Block Spammers and Gross People on Google Drive

As with all issues, the web has its excessive factors, resembling lovely cats, and its low factors, or spammers, trolls, and individuals who share abusive content material. Many of us keep away from these people, although it’s simpler to do on some platforms than on others. Here’s some excellent news: If you’re having hassle with these sorts of parents, Google Drive will now allow you to block them.

In a brand new Google Workspace update printed this week, the corporate acknowledged that whereas Google Drive goals to let folks retailer, share, and collaborate from anyplace, the product’s sharing capabilities might be abused by unhealthy actors. That’s exactly why Google determined to create a method for people to dam different customers, even when that they had beforehand given these customers entry to their content material.

“User blocking will not only preserve Drive sharing’s helpfulness, but most importantly preserve the safety of Drive users,” Google wrote in a weblog submit.

In addition, Google mentioned that blocking a person on Drive may even block them from interacting with you on different apps and companies.

The new blocking function will permit customers to dam others from sharing any content material with them sooner or later, which Google says might be useful if one other person “has a history of sending spam or abusive content.” It may even permit people to take away all the present recordsdata and folders of their Drive shared by the offending person, thereby permitting them to do away with the spam and abusive content material suddenly. Lastly, as talked about above, the function will permit customers to revoke one other particular person’s entry to their content material.

To block somebody, open up Drive and proper click on on a file, which opens up the choices menu. In that menu, click on Block (person) after which Block within the window. In case you ever change your thoughts, you may as well unblock someone.

As famous by 9to5Google, spam on Google Drive has been an issue for years. This is as a result of people can share recordsdata with anybody on the platform—sharing recordsdata doesn’t require the opposite particular person’s permission—so long as they’ve an electronic mail tackle. Although there’s a “remove” button in Drive, this doesn’t delete the shared recordsdata, however merely hides them from view, that means they’ll nonetheless present up in search outcomes and different areas.

It won’t look like a giant deal at first look, however it may be very uncomfortable and even harmful. One person in recent times complained that they nonetheless have entry to a shared folder owned by their abusive ex-boyfriend and reported feeling a “lack of control, the ability to not be able to remove myself from this content—from this person.” Yeah, positively not an excellent feeling.

Google mentioned it started gradual rollout of the blocking function, which shall be out there to all Google Workplace clients, G Suite Basic clients, Business clients, and customers with private Google accounts, on Thursday. It initially introduced the function in May.