The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent a letter to Alphabet, Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai over Gmail’s alleged partisan use of its email filter.
Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson wrote in the letter that “Gmail’s spam filters routinely block messages from reaching consumers when those messages come from Republican senders but fail to block similar messages sent by Democrats.” According to commenters on the FTC’s request for information page, “Google is using a partisan approach in administering its spam filters.”
Describing how such activity is considered an unfair act or practice, Ferguson said Alphabet’s “alleged partisan treatment of comparable messages or messengers in Gmail to achieve political objectives may violate both of these prohibitions under the FTC Act. And the partisan treatment may cause harm to consumers.”
“If Gmail’s filters keep Americans from receiving speech they expect, or donating as they see fit, the filters may harm American consumers and may violate the FTC Act’s prohibition of unfair or deceptive trade practices,” he warned.
Jenn Crider, a Google spokesperson, told Axios that Gmail’s spam filters “look at a variety of objective signals – like whether people mark a particular email as spam, or if a particular ad agency is sending a high volume of emails that are often marked by people as spam.”
“This applies equally to all senders, regardless of political ideology,” Crider said. “We will review this letter and look forward to engaging constructively.”
Ferguson’s letter follows Republican strategy firm Targeted Victory, which works with top GOP leaders and committees, releasing data showing a stark difference in how Gmail treats Republican and Democratic solicitations.
