Users reported a significant spam attack on their Google Analytics 4 (GA4) properties on June 22nd, with over 10 million spam hits. This surge caused several issues:
- BigQuery Export Paused: The influx of events exceeded the 1 million/day limit, leading Google to pause the BigQuery export.
- Data Deletion Limitations: GA4 lacks granular data deletion controls, making it impossible to delete the spam events directly. Users can only delete parameters, not the events, sessions, or users.
- Data Integrity: The GA4 dataset remains corrupted with spam, affecting data accuracy and reliability.
Rick mentioned that one of their client accounts was hit with 10 million purchase events, causing their BigQuery export to fail. He expressed frustration over the inability to delete these events from Google Analytics, noting that even refunds do not remove the events, sessions, and users. Rick emphasized the unprofessional nature of this limitation and the inability to prevent or clean up the spam.
Simo Ahava also reported being hit by over 10 million spam purchase hits in their Google Analytics 4 property on the same date. He highlighted the lack of granular data deletion controls and noted that the BigQuery export was paused by Google due to exceeding the 1M/day limit. While spam rows can be deleted in BigQuery using DML queries, the GA4 dataset remains affected.
