Google Messages is trying to tackle today’s most annoying messaging spam

Google Messages is introducing a new feature to filter out spammy job-seeking and package-delivery texts from users' inboxes. The app will also add a content warning to blur images that might contain nudity, with the feature being optional and enabled by default for users under 18. The sensitive content warnings will roll out in the coming months to Android 9 and higher devices with more than 2GB of RAM. An update is headed out to beta users with an upgraded scam detection system that uses on-device machine learning models to evaluate messages. Google Messages already moves suspected spam messages to the spam folder or shows warnings, and the enhanced protection against scams is rolling out now to beta users with spam protection enabled. Additionally, Google Messages is working on the ability to automatically hide messages from unknown international numbers, along with warnings for potentially dangerous links. Next year, Google is planning to add a "contact verifying" feature for Android, which will allow users to verify their contact's identity using a public key. This verification system is similar to the one Apple announced for iMessage a few years ago.