If you’ve ever had a problem with a Google product and then tried to get help from Google, you know it’s nearly impossible to talk to a real person, since much of the company’s work is automated (including customer service, of course). It now appears that Google really likes automation so much that it automatically flags Google Drive users’ files for copyright infringement simply because they have the number 1 in them.
Uh, @googledrive, are you doing okay? This file literally contains a single line with the number “1”. pic.twitter.com/4tLhOzQY1T
— Dr. Emily Dolson (@emilyldolson) January 24, 2022
The issue was first raised by Dr. Emily Dolson, an assistant professor at Michigan State University, who reported that a file containing only the number 1 was flagged and restricted by Google as a violation of Google Drive’s copyright infringement policy. Others trying to reproduce the problem on the Ycombinator news network also got their files flagged about an hour later.
Hi Dr. Emily Dolson, thank you for letting us know about this issue! The Drive team is very much aware of this now ✨thanks to all of you ✨we’re working on it!
— Google Drive (@googledrive) January 25, 2022
Perhaps most frustratingly, Google’s proposed sign has a small note at the bottom of the warning stating “This restriction cannot be requested to be appealed.” While Dolson’s question received a direct response from Google Drive after much publicity, for others, Google basically won’t fix your problem when faced with a similar situation.
Google Drive finally responded to the report, explaining that it is now undergoing a fix. If you have files restricted because of this issue, they should be unmarked soon.