Google is taking a strong position against “spam” files on its Drive cloud storage platform .
Google continues to work to reduce the amount of spam it receives on its Drive cloud storage platform year after year. The company has already implemented some measures, such as the ability to block and report ‘spammers’, but there are still files that go unnoticed and become a nuisance for users.
Now, Google explains that it will take active steps to identify files hosted on Drive that violate its Terms of Service or Abuse Program Policies .
Files banned by Google
According to Google Drive policies, the company considers content that is prohibited to be those related to the exploitation and sexual abuse of children , in addition to dangerous and illegal activities, identity theft, incitement to hatred , explicit images, ‘gore’, photographs unauthorized minors, among other content.
However, Google advises that it will make an exception for content classified as “artistic, educational, documentary or scientific”.
More control in Drive
These suspicious files will be reported to the owner and automatically restricted, which means that they cannot be shared with other people and all user access will be removed except the owner.
“This will help ensure that owners of Google Drive items are fully informed about the status of their content, while helping to ensure that users are protected from abusive content ,” Google explained in a blog post .
However, it is impossible not to think of some scenarios where legitimate files are locked without just cause.
Given this, Google indicates that there is a system to request a review of a lock if someone feels that the file has been unfairly restricted, but it is not clear how the process will be handled and how long it may take.