Judge tears apart Republican lawsuit alleging bias in Gmail spam filter

Well, if political emails didn't read like spam so often, they probably wouldn't be as much of a problem... Despite not even being a US citizen or living in the US, I still sometimes get US political emails or end up signed up to email lists, so they get marked as spam!

From the article:

"Google previously ran a pilot program that let political emails bypass the Gmail spam filter. Google said in a January 2023 court filing that "the RNC has chosen not to participate in Google's FEC-approved Pilot Program"

Firstly, what the hell, Google? Also, on brand for GOP to refuse a solution (to a problem of their own making, with spam-style emails) in preference for pushing an unfounded grievance into the ground.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The RNC is seeking "recovery for donations it allegedly lost as a result of its emails not being delivered to its supporters' inboxes," Calabretta noted.

Calabretta, a Biden appointee, called it "concerning that Gmail's spam filter has a disparate impact on the emails of one political party, and that Google is aware of and has not yet been able to correct this bias."

"The Court grants Defendant's Motion to Dismiss in full on the ground that it is immune from suit on these facts under Section 230 with leave to amend to establish a lack of good faith," the order said.

In January, the Federal Election Commission rejected a related RNC complaint that alleged Gmail's spam filtering amounted to "illegal in-kind contributions made by Google to Biden For President and other Democrat candidates."

The lawsuit in the US District Court "is not over" despite yesterday's ruling, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement quoted by Courthouse News Service.

If the Republican group "were to amend its Complaint to seek injunctive relief only, the Court would likely dismiss the entire action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction," the order said.

The original article contains 679 words, the summary contains 190 words. Saved 72%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!