Andrew Ferguson, Federal Trade Commission chair, accused Google of using partisan spam filtering that routes Republican fundraising emails to spam while delivering Democratic emails to inboxes. Ferguson sent a letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai alleging potential violations of the FTC Act and citing recent reporting. The letter warned that Gmail filters that prevent recipients from receiving expected speech or donating could harm American consumers and may violate prohibitions on unfair or deceptive trade practices, potentially triggering FTC investigation and enforcement. The letter also noted possible state consumer protection law issues. Google replied that spam filters use objective user signals applied equally to all senders and will review the letter.
"My understanding from recent reporting is 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," Ferguson wrote. The letter told Pichai that 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."
"Gmail's spam filters look at a variety of objective user signals-like whether a user marks an email as spam or if a particular ad agency is sending a high volume of emails on behalf of their clients that are often marked by users as spam. This applies equally to all senders, regardless of political ideology. We will review this letter and look forward to engaging constructively," Google said.
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