GOP Cries Censorship Over Spam Filters That Work
5 days ago
- #FTC
- #Political Fundraising
- #Email Spam
- FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent a letter to Google's CEO, questioning Gmail's alleged bias in blocking Republican fundraising emails while sparing Democratic ones.
- Media reports and a GOP memo accused Gmail of disproportionately flagging WinRed (Republican fundraising platform) emails as spam compared to ActBlue (Democratic counterpart).
- Spam experts from Koli-Lõks and SURBL revealed WinRed's emails hit spamtraps far more frequently than ActBlue's, indicating technical issues rather than political bias.
- WinRed's aggressive email tactics, including using harvested or purchased lists, damaged its sender reputation, leading to higher spam filtering.
- The FTC letter referenced a debunked 2022 study on email bias, which Republicans used to push lawsuits and complaints, though they were dismissed.
- Critics argue the FTC's involvement is political posturing to address conservative claims of censorship, despite First Amendment protections for private companies.
- WinRed also faces backlash for relentless fundraising texts, ignoring unsubscribe requests and using multiple numbers to bypass blocks.
- Experts emphasize the issue lies with WinRed's spammy practices, not email providers like Google, which filter based on technical reputation metrics.