Google Discover keeps dropping spoilers for various TV series/shows even after removing content from feed

Google Discover shows users content related to their interests, searches, and other web activity. The feed can be accessed from the left-most page of many supported Android launchers, and on the Google app.

It is only natural that users search up matters related to their favorite series like a favorite character or perhaps a recap of a previous season.

Google stores such information in its search history (that can easily be cleared of course), and uses that info to display relevant content on the Google Discover feed, among other things.

However, certain times some unwarranted guests may appear on Google Discover. These would contain critical spoilers and even a slight glance at one of those may ruin an entire series.

What’s worse is the fact that one does not even need to open such pieces up. The spoilers, quite conveniently, are mentioned in the title itself.

And several users have had entire plots ruined due to this issue. After all, what is the point of watching a suspenseful show if you are already aware of what happens at its end?

Google keeps putting articles with spoilers as their titles in my news feed. I literally had an article entitled ‘how the night king lost the battle of winterfell’ the Monday morning after the episode aired. And this week I’ve had countless more both for GOT and avengers. Bear in mind I live in Europe so Monday is our GOT day. Google are spoiling it before we even get the chance to watch it. The spoilers aren’t in the text, literally the title is the spoiler. This has made me basically give up on my Google news feed anytime I’m remotely interested in a show or film.
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I hate it so much. Every time I see it I click “see less of this” to no avail.
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Frustrated users have mentioned this problem on Reddit several times over the past couple of years.

Previously, it was “Avengers: Endgame” and “Game of Thrones” that was ruined completely for some, and now it’s “The Mandalorian” series that airs on Disney+.

So what can be done about the matter? While Discover does allow users to filter content with a “Not interested” option that shows up upon tapping on the 3-dot menu at the bottom of every story, it doesn’t appear to be that effective.

Apparently, removing content related to certain TV shows does not completely stop Discover from finding a way of bringing the same content to the feed.

I too have fallen victim to this. I try my best to filter out certain content from the feed, but somehow, Discover pulls the same content from a different publication and brings it to my eyes. It is annoying, to say the least.

As one Redditor put it, Google should try working into the recommendations algorithm to de-prioritize any publishers that put spoilers in the titles. This would discourage publishers from doing so.

A corporation the size of Google shouldn’t find a task like this too daunting. A clever implementation of machine learning can potentially help filter out stories with spoilers in the title itself.

However, the likelihood of Google implementing an algorithm like the above seems sparse. For now, all users can do is play around with the options in the 3-dot menu present at the bottom of every news-card.

See a publisher that gives out too many spoilers? Just hit the “Don’t show stories from…” option, as shown in the image above, and you will not see any more of that publisher again.

You can also of course use the “Not interested” option as a dislike button, and hope that Google takes a hint and stops suggesting spoiler-plagued stories.

Every time I see it, I send feedback. “NO SPOILERS IN MY NEWS FEED”, or something to that effect. Maybe they’ll get the hint eventually. I also try to block the “news” site that’s linked if it’s an entertainment site.
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As a last resort, if Google does not understand you at all, you can just disable Discover from your launcher settings for the time being. To do this on the Pixel Launcher, head over to Home settings > Display Google app.

With that being said, let us know in the comments below about any other workarounds you have for the spoilers problem on Google Discover.

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