Google denies Gmail is shutting down after viral hoax

A post on X, formerly Twitter, which has been viewed more than seven million times, claimed it would be closing in August.

Google took to the same platform to rebuff the false claim.

A communications expert told the BBC it was “a classic example” of the dangers of misinformation.

“Most people believe what they see online, and there’s a lack of tools and processes to verify the facts,” said Richard Bagnall, boss of communications evaluation firm, CARMA.

“Whilst social networks can act without responsibility and pump unfiltered, unverified information to their audiences, this Gmail incident won’t be the last case we’ll see.”

All social media platforms struggle to stop misinformation, but X has been singled out for particular criticism on the issue, with the EU claiming in 2023 it was worse than its peers in terms of spreading falsehoods.

The company has previously said it is committed to “tackling hate speech” but also wants to “protect free speech”.

The BBC has approached X for comment about this hoax, which appears to be based on a real email sent by Google in 2023. It notified people that Gmail would stop access to its most basic HTML view.