Is Gmail Going Away? Google Says It’s ‘Here To Stay’

Google wants everyone to know there is nothing to worry about after a viral social media post claimed its Gmail service was shutting down.

Viral Post About Status Of Gmail

It all started with a post on X (formerly Twitter) that shared a screenshot of a supposed warning to Google users that the company “is sunsetting Gmail” on Aug. 1.

“This means that as of this date, Gmail will no longer support sending, receiving or storing emails,” the text reads.

According to TechReport’s estimate of Gmail users, nearly 1.8 million depend on the email service.

As you might imagine with a user base that size, the rumor quickly caught fire. The image has been viewed more than 8.5 million times as of this writing.

Google Denies Gmail Is Sunsetting

Google responded to the hoax immediately after it went viral by sharing its own post on X.

“Gmail is here to stay,” the company simply wrote to its followers. There has been no further word from Google on the matter since its brief response.

Popular tech website Gizmodo said the hoax is just the latest example of the pitfalls of believing what you read from “verified” accounts on X.

Verified accounts on X, which are noted with a blue checkmark, can be purchased for $8. This was one of the many sweeping changes instituted when Elon Musk bought the platform.

“(Musk got rid of the so-called ‘legacy’ checkmarks, allowing anyone with $8 to by so-called verification,” Gizmodo reported “But X doesn’t verify the identity of anyone who buys a blue checkmark like it did previously, and the X algorithm artificially boosts paying users to give them more visibility.”