EXCLUSIVE: Republicans Knock Google Pilot Program to Remove Gmail Leftist Spam Bias

Republican politicians knocked Google’s newly approved email plan, suggesting it doesn’t  go far enough to ensure GOP fundraising emails reach Gmail users’ inboxes.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Aug. 11 approved a proposed pilot by Google to address GOP concerns that too few Republican political fundraising emails were reaching Gmail users’ inboxes. The approval follows a March North Carolina State University study that exposed how Gmail marked 67.6 percent of right-leaning candidates’ emails as spam and just 8.2 percent of left-leaning candidates’ emails as spam. 

Republican senators were also approved by the National Republican Congressional Committee. Steve Daines (MT) and John Thune (SD) expressed doubt that Google will shore up its documented left-leaning spam filter bias, even after the FEC approved Google’s pilot proposal.

“While it’s good to see the FEC has cleared the way for Google to increase transparency, this pilot program won’t fix the underlying issue of Republican emails getting caught in spam or not delivered at all,” Daines said in a statement to MRC Free Speech America. “I’ll keep pushing for Google to establish parity between both sides to ensure all Americans can connect and engage in political discourse.”

The pilot will last through January, and Thune’s office signaled discontent with the temporary nature of the program.

“While Sen. Thune is glad Google has acknowledged this issue, he believes it’s an inadequate response to a large and serious problem,” Thune spokesperson Ryan Wrasse wrote in an email. “More needs to be done. Consumers want a long-term, transparent fix, which is what his bill would provide.”

Thune joined 26 other GOP senators when he introduced a bill in June to prohibit email providers from marking certain political campaign messages as spam. Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) introduced companion House legislation days later.

While the bills remain in committee, they would require Gmail’s quarterly reporting to show how many times it has flagged specific GOP and Democratic Party campaigns emails as spam.

NRCC took issue with the proposed pilot, saying it allows Google to further “put its finger on the scale” of elections.

“We are calling for Google and all other email providers to protect political speech by delivering 100% of opted-in political emails to recipients without blocking and filtration,” an NRCC spokesperson wrote in an email.

A Google spokesperson said that his company’s goal during this pilot program is to assess “alternative ways” of addressing concerns from bulk senders, while giving users “clear controls” to minimize unwanted email.

Once approved, pilots would contact Gmail users to ask them if they want to be included in pilot emails. They could also opt out at any time after signing up.

“We will continue to monitor feedback as the pilot rolls out to ensure it is meeting its goals,” the Google spokesperson said.

Conservatives under attack Google: 650-253-0000 to demand that it mirrors the First Amendment and provide transparency and clarity regarding hate speech, and equal treatment for conservatives.

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