Google Messages, used to bombard Android users with ads

It’s happening in a less important market for Google, turned into an experiment where Google Messages displays as many ads as messages.

Google Messages is a handy “solution” for Google, making it easy to deliver guaranteed ads to the vast majority of Android users.

Apparently, the problem is with the RCS system, an auxiliary technology designed to facilitate the automatic delivery of media content to users’ devices. Normally, only certain vendors should be accepted, based on a QR code attesting to “Verified Business” status. Instead, someone seems to have found a way to get this permission automatically, resulting in a permanent assault with ads that should have been allowed only to a small group of Google partners.

If you’re wondering just how bad the ads in Google Messages can get, I got all these in just the last 7 hours. Amazing.

No normal consumer should have to face this on a basic & necessary phone app.@lockheimer, is this what RCS & Chat features are meant to be? https://t.co/a2i7H6xRYW pic.twitter.com/KqxFATDwwG

– Ishan Agarwal (@ ishanagarwal24) May 17, 2022

The only solution for managing the situation is to manually report accounts that abuse these privileges, but the measure only works on a one-off basis and not for all Android users targeted by those ads.

Ironically, the situation arises after Google promoted the RCS system as a successor to the SMS and MMS technologies, considered archaic. Now we find out why.