Google is set to end a pilot program that allows political emails to avoid spam filters. The tech company also is asking a court to dismiss a lawsuit by the Republican National Committee that accuses the firm of biased spam filtering actions.
Google Is Set To End Pilot Program That Allows Political Emails to Avoid Spam Filters
A pilot program from Google that allows some political campaign emails to bypass spam filters in Gmail at the moment is shutting down at the end of this month. in a legal filing on Monday, the tech giant confirmed the January 31 end date. The firm is also asking a federal judge to throw a lawsuit that was filed by the Republican National Committee. The lawsuit accuses the company of disproportionately sending conservative political emails to spam.
Google Launched the Program Last Year
In the previous year, Google launched the program after conservatives leveled charges of political bias against the firm, and then claimed that Republican fundraising emails were very much likely to be sent to spam than fundraising emails from Democrats were.
The RNC claimed that the pilot program did not go far enough. The committee filed a lawsuit back in October accusing Google of censoring Republican fundraising emails. Google on its own part has come out to deny any form of political bias in regard to how its sorts its emails.
Contents of the Motion Filed
“The RNC is wrong,” the motion filed on Monday reads. “Gmail’s spam filtering policies apply equally to emails from all senders, whether they are politically affiliated or not.”
Google spokesperson, Jose Castaneda when reached out for a comment reiterated that the firm does not “filter emails for political purposes” and also stated that the “suit is without merit.”
The federal election committed which approved the campaign email test of Google just last week said that there was “no reason to believe” that the tech company directed conservative emails to spam intentionally, The Wall Street Journal reported.
