The FTC thinks Gmail is discriminating with partisan spam filters

Date:
Mon, 01 Sep 2025 12:02:00 +0000

Description:
The FTC has written a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai about alleged partisan spam filters.

FULL STORY ======================================================================The US FTC Chairman has written directly to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai Andrew Ferguson accuses Gmail of having partisan spam filters Google said filters apply equally regardless of political ideology

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson has accused Google of partisan Gmail spam filtering which discriminates against certain political parties.

In a letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai dated August 28, 2025, Ferguson claimed Republican fundraising emails are being flagged as spam, while Democratic emails continue to be delivered successfully.

Ferguson warned this could violate the FTC Acts prohibition of unfair or deceptive trade practices, suggesting that an investigation and possible enforcement could be on the cards. Gmail once again targeted over political email spam filtering

My understanding from recent reporting is that Gmails 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 summarizes.

The complaint cites a New York Post article, which revealed that identical emails with WinRed (Republican) and ActBlue (Democratic) donation links were treated differently by Gmail.

Google has already responded to these allegations previously, with company spokesperson Jos Castaeda said: Email filter protections are in place to
keep our users safe.

The filters apply equally to all senders, regardless of political ideology.

A consumers right to hear from candidates or parties, including solicitations for donations, is not diminished because that consumers political preferences may run counter to your companys or your employees political preferences, Ferguson wrote.

This isnt the first time that Google has been accused of political bias in
its Gmail spam filtering. In 2022, an RNC lawsuit claimed the company had unfairly filtered Republican emails, but the US District Court dismissed the case on the basis of a lack of evidence. RNC has since revived the case.

TechRadar Pro has asked Google for an updated commented in response to the FTCs August 2025 letter any response will be posted here. You might also
like Weve listed the best email providers around today Google hits back at claims Gmail inbox filters are biased Need to reach broader audiences? Try
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/the-ftc-thinks-gmail-is-discriminating-with-part isan-spam-filters


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