The president of the Federal Trade Commission of the United States (FTC), Andrew Ferguson, claimed that Gmail uses what the regulator calls partisan filtering and raised the issue in a letter addressed to Lastando Pichai, the executive director of the Google parent company, Alphabet, said the regulator this Thursday.
“My understanding, based on recent reports, is that Gmail spam filters routinely block messages so that they do not reach consumers when these messages come from republican senders, but fail to block similar messages sent by Democrats,” said the letter published by the FTC.
A Google spokesman said that Gmail spam filters apply equally to all, regardless of political ideology.
Google has denied in the past similar statements of Republicans and conservatives.
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Republicans have long accused great technology companies to discriminate and suppress conservative opinions, an affirmation that companies deny. Many technological firms have tried in recent months to build closest ties with Republican President Donald Trump, who assumed the position in January.
Google spokesman said the company will review the letter and participate “constructively” in the matter.
“Gmail spam filters consider a variety of objective signals, as if people mark a particular email as spam, or if an advertising agency in particular sends a large volume of emails that are often marked by people as spam. This applies equally to all reference, regardless of political ideology,” added the spokesman.
The letter from the FTC president warned the company that it is not consistent with the regulations of the FTC “could lead to a FTC investigation and a possible compliance action.”
An American judge had previously dismissed the demand of the Republican National Committee, which accused Google of intentionally diverting the email messages of the political party to user spam folders.
With Reuters information
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