An image shared on various social media sites claims Google announced that it would be “sunsetting” its Gmail services in August 2024.

Verdict: False

Google has not announced the shutdown of the Gmail service, but is planning to discontinue an older version of the platform. A spokesperson for Google directed Check Your Fact to a post on X appearing to debunk these claims.

Fact Check:

Google has suspended image generation through its own artificial intelligence tool, Gemini, after users claimed that prompts were returning “diverse” images that were historically inaccurate, according to the New York Post. Despite these issues, Google announced a new cloud partnership with Reddit that would allow the integration of Vertex AI to “enhance search and other capabilities” on the site, the company stated on a blog post.

Several users have circulated an email, appearing to be sent from the Google Analytics email address, announcing it would be closing its Gmail platform in August 2024. The purported email states that the decision to close the service was to “focus our resources on developing new technologies and platforms” online.

“Gmail will officially be sunsetted, marking the end of its service,” the email reads in part. “This means that as of this date, Gmail will no longer support sending, receiving or storing emails.”

“This is insane. I hate this company,” one post, garnering 3.7 million views, reacted to the email. Other users expressed disdain, or shared memes over the supposed announcement. (RELATED: Fact -Checking Trump’s Claim That He’s Been Indicted More Times Than Al Capone)

The email is false. No such announcement can be found on the Google press website, its Gmail product blog website or its official blog. No such email, as of 7pm Eastern Standard Time, has been received in any email accounts used by Check Your Fact.

Rather, the company is planning to shut down the “basic HTML” version of the platform, according to TechCrunch. All users were automatically switched over to the “Standard” view of the email service after the HTML option was discontinued in January 2024, The Verge reported. TechCrunch updated their article to report that the purported email about a whole shutdown was incorrect.

“Gmail is transitioning users from Basic HTML view to the latest version of Gmail, also known as Standard view,” a post from Gmail help stated, also directing users to a transition guide. No such information about a service-wide shutdown is mentioned.

A spokesperson directed Check Your Fact to a post on X, appearing to debunk these claims.

Gmail is here to stay.

— Gmail (@gmail) February 22, 2024

“Gmail is here to stay,” the post reads.