Gmail to stop marking US political fundraising emails as spam

Google has received a go-ahead from the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) to keep politician campaign emails — on its Gmail platform — from being marked as spam.  

“The FEC approved a proposal by the tech major to put in place a new program that would prohibit political fundraising emails from automatically being marked as spam, as reported by The Washington Post. 

Google has reportedly launched the pilot program following pressure from Republicans, who accused the company of censoring fundraising emails.   

A report published by Axios in April 2022 first indicated that Gmail was significantly more likely to mark the Republican Party or the Grand Old Party (GOP) emails as spam during the 2020 election campaign. Republicans also saw campaign contributions from small donors to their party fall by over 12% between the first and second quarters of the year, said a report by NY Times.   

Google had come under fire as its algorithms unfairly target conservative content across its services, and that its Gmail service filters more Republican fundraising and campaign emails to spam.  

GOP leaders also introduced a Bill in June that seeks to ban email platforms from automatically routing campaign messages to spam folders.  

As Google decides to forge ahead with the project, it will notify users the first time they receive an email from a participating campaign. They will be able to opt out of receiving those emails, and have the option of manually marking them as spam.  

“Our goal during this pilot program is to assess alternative ways of addressing concerns from bulk senders, while giving users clear controls over their inboxes to minimize unwanted email,” Google spokesperson José Castañeda, said, noting that the company will continue to monitor feedback as the pilot rolls out to ensure it is meeting its goals.  

On Thursday, at the FEC's open meeting, Democratic commissioner Ellen Weintraub voiced concerns about the program only being available to political committees.   

“I have a hard time getting around the fact that this is a unique benefit offered to political committees, and only political committees,” Weintraub was quoted as saying by The Verge. Because of the program’s exclusivity, Weintraub likened it to Google offering its own “in-kind” contribution to political groups.  

It is to be noted that former US President Donald Trump's campaigns were criticised for using spammy tactics in its fundraising emails.