Ever since I switched from iPhone to Android, I have been receiving a steady stream of spam messages. It's nothing out of the ordinary, as I used to get a few calls here and there from telemarketers even on the iPhone, but the barrage of spam messages I have been receiving feels excessive. And even after contacting my carrier, a solution was never in sight. That is, until I realised the culprit paving the way for such spam was the Google Messages app itself.
How Google Messages Became a Gateway for Spam
Back in 2022, Google Messages introduced RCS (Rich Communication Services), bringing read receipts, high-quality media sharing, stickers and GIFs. Google pushed for this new protocol so much that even Apple eventually added RCS support with iOS 18, closing the gap between Android and Apple phones, something people had complained about for over a decade.
That should have been the end of it. Except businesses figured out that this shiny new protocol was also a very convenient way to reach millions of phones with zero filtering. And Google, for all its talk about making messaging better, has done remarkably little to stop them.
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Why RCS Spam Slips Through Google Messages
The way it works in India is that promotional SMS in India already goes through TRAI's DLT system, where businesses have to register their sender IDs and message templates with telecom operators before a single message reaches your phone. It is not a perfect system, but it catches a lot.
RCS messages skip all that. Instead, they travel on the back of Google's own platform, outside the carrier-level filters. And it gets worse.
Spam messages sent over RCS look so professional with company logos, branded colours, interactive buttons and rich media cards that even a fake loan offer from a shady lender becomes almost indistinguishable from a legitimate bank.
It's not like Google has done nothing about this issue. The problem was so widespread that Google paused business promotions with RCS on its Messages app back in 2022. However, that did not last long, and the businesses were back to their nefarious activities soon.
Only this year, Google has partnered with Bharti Airtel, one of India's biggest telecom providers, to filter RCS spam messages over their network.
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How to Stop RCS Spam Messages on Your Phone
Even after that partnership, the spam has not stopped. Just last month, my relatives reached out to me because they had tapped on what looked like a message from their bank, but it turned out to be spam sent their way via RCS, and since then, they have been getting flooded with loan messages and calls.
I immediately turned off RCS on their phone. Then it hit me: most people do not even know the feature exists, let alone know it is the thing that's flooding their inbox. So here's how you can do it in the Google Messages app on your Android phone.
- Open Google Messages on your phone and tap your profile picture at the top right.
- Go to Messages settings > RCS chats and turn off the RCS chats toggle.
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What Can Google Do to Fix This Spam Problem?
To play devil's advocate for a second, RCS did not invent this spam problem. It has brought genuinely useful things to Android, including proper cross-platform messaging with iPhones. But they had a share in bringing it to millions with their Messages app. So it is time to take some action.
First, keep RCS disabled by default. If someone doesn't know about it or doesn't know how to use it, they shouldn't have to suffer. Adding a banner at the top to request users turn it on would be a better idea than enabling it automatically.
Next, Google knows what spam looks like better than almost any company on the planet, so it's capable of building a better spam protection system that actually detects and blocks RCS spam. Or fix their current spam filtering system. Or join hands with other telecom operators in India to filter RCS spam before it reaches users.
Finally, bring back message categories to sort texts into Personal, Transactions, OTPs and Offers. This way, we can at least silence and sort unwanted messages while keeping important alerts in focus.
Update – September 28, 2026: While writing this story, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) published draft guidelines that would bring RCS under the same anti-spam rules that currently govern calls and SMS. If finalised, any commercial message sent without verifiable digital consent would be classified as an unfair trade practice, and the framework would apply to foreign platforms targeting Indian users as well.
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