FTC Chair Warns Google Over Alleged Bias Against Republicans by Gmail Spam Filters

The Post’s story reported on complaints by Targeted Victory, a consulting and PR firm working for the Republican National Committee. Ferguson’s letter also referenced complaints filed as part of the FTC’s request for information for its investigation of Technology Platform Censorship.

The letter accused Google of possible unfair and deceptive trade practices stemming from the alleged partisan bias in spam filtering.

“A consumer’s right to hear from candidates or parties, including solicitations for donations, is not diminished because that consumer’s political preferences may run counter to your company’s or your employees’ political preferences,” it read. “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.”

The complaint is not a new one. In 2023 Republicans filed a claim with the Federal Election Commission over Gmail’s spam filters but the FEC dismissed the complaint. A federal judge separately dismissed an RNC lawsuit raising similar allegations against Google.

In a statement to Axios, a Google spokesperson said 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,” adding the company applies that policy, “equally to all senders, regardless of political ideology.”

The FTC had lately targeted technology platforms over alleged censorship of Americans, including outside U.S. territory. Last month Ferguson wrote to the heads of dozens of U.S. tech companies, including Akamai, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Cloudflare, Discord, GoDaddy, Meta, Microsoft, Reddit, Signal, Snap, Slack and X, warning them that strict compliance with the European Union’s Digital Services Act and the U.K.’s Online Safety Act could run afoul of U.S. unfair and deceptive trade practices regulations.

“As you grapple with how your company will comply with these misguided international regulatory requirements, I write to remind you that your company has independent obligations to American consumers under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce,” Ferguson wrote.

The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday morning titled “Europe’s Threat to American Speech and Innovation.” As of Tuesday, none of the companies targeted by Ferguson’s letters was listed as a witness. The confirmed witnesses include British MP Nigel Farage, head of the right-wing Reform Party; Lorcán Price, general counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom International; and Morgan Reed, president of the App Association. Member of the European Parliament commissioner Terry Breton, one of the chief architects of the EU digital laws, was previously listed as an “invited witness” but did not appear on the list of confirmed witnesses on the eve of the hearing.