Republicans revive allegations of Gmail censorship by Google, here's what the company has to say

Gmail

Andrew Ferguson, chair of the FTC and a Trump appointee, has warned Alphabet that Gmail’s spam filtering system could amount to an unfair trade practice if it disproportionately blocks Republican messages. In a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai, Ferguson cited a New York Post report based on complaints from Targeted Victory, a Republican-aligned consulting firm. The firm claims that Gmail often sends fundraising emails containing links to the GOP platform WinRed into spam, while similar emails linking to the Democratic counterpart ActBlue escape that fate.

Ferguson wrote that such practices could “harm American consumers” by limiting political speech and restricting donations, raising the possibility of an FTC investigation.

Google denied any political bias, telling Axios its spam filters rely on “objective signals,” such as whether recipients frequently mark certain emails as spam. A company spokesperson said Gmail applies these rules “equally to all senders, regardless of political ideology,” and that it would review Ferguson’s letter.

Republicans have long accused digital platforms of censoring conservative speech. In 2023, both the Federal Election Commission and a federal court dismissed similar complaints and a lawsuit by the Republican National Committee, though the RNC is now seeking to revive its case.