Google says Chrome’s anti-abuse systems blocked or reduced more than 7 billion unwanted notifications per day on Android during the first quarter of 2026.
In a new blog post, Google said abusive notifications have increasingly become a tool for spreading scams, malware, phishing attempts and fraudulent payment requests. To tackle the problem, the company has built several security layers designed to detect and stop abusive notifications at different stages.
Google describes the approach as a “Swiss cheese” defense model, where multiple overlapping security systems work together. If abusive activity gets past one layer, another layer can detect and block it before it reaches users.
Chrome can also automatically revoke notification permissions from inactive websites or repeatedly trigger suspicious-notification warnings. When permission is removed, Chrome can automatically unsubscribe users from that website’s notifications.
On Android, users can review permissions that Chrome has automatically revoked through Safety Hub and choose to restore access if they still want notifications from a particular website. Android users can also unsubscribe directly through the notification panel.
Google is also analyzing activity across groups of related websites to identify coordinated abuse. This includes looking at service-worker activity and other signals that can reveal networks of websites distributing malicious or deceptive notifications.
The company considers factors such as how many notifications a site sends, how long users spend on the website, how frequently it requests notification permission and how users interact with its content.
Websites identified as disruptive can face additional restrictions. Google says some sites may be limited to 1,000 notification messages per minute, with requests beyond that limit receiving an HTTP 429 response. Restrictions can become stricter for websites that repeatedly engage in abusive behavior and are only relaxed after the site demonstrates a period of non-disruptive activity.
Chrome has also changed the way notification permission requests appear on Android. The updated interface is designed to make permission requests less disruptive while giving users more control over whether websites can send notifications.
Google says these measures have reduced unnecessary background activity and battery consumption while helping users receive notifications that are more useful.
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Chrome users can review notification permissions by going to Settings > Privacy and security > Site Settings > Notifications on desktop. On Android, notification settings can be accessed through Settings > Notifications.
