In a rare bipartisan vote, the Federal Election Commission approved a Google pilot program on Thursday to exempt political groups from Gmail spam filters, likely ending a feud with Republicans that claim the service is biased against their fundraising efforts.
In a 4-1 vote, the FEC cleared the way for Google to let political parties and groups opt in to the program for free. The Big Tech firm said it wanted approval first, concerned that it might be considered an “in-kind” gift to groups involved.
Users will still be able to send the political mail to spam.
The vote was seen as a free speech victory by Republican critics who believed that Gmail filters somehow spammed GOP fundraising emails but not those from Democrats. Google’s lawyer told the commission that it does not inject any “bias” into the Gmail spam filters.
The vote was the first signal in years that bipartisanship on the politically evenly split six-commissioner FEC could be back. In approving the Google plan, the commission rejected long-serving liberal commissioner Ellen Weintraub’s opposition.
She argued in lockstep with the Democratic National Committee that Google should not be allowed to offer the program. But she failed to bring her two Democratic colleagues along.
BREAKING: The @FEC approved a Google pilot program to test sending all emails from verified candidates, political party committees & leadership PACs to users’ inboxes.
The program would exempt these emails from “forms of spam detection to which they would otherwise be subject.”
— Taylor Giorno (@taylorgiorno_) August 11, 2022
One, Shana Broussard, didn’t vote, and new member Dara Lindenbaum, the vice chairwoman, voted with the Republicans. It was her first vote as a commissioner and a signal that Weintraub’s iron grip on the Democratic caucus is ending.
“I’m pleased the @FEC could reach a bipartisan vote to approve this advisory opinion for @Google. It gets the law right,” tweeted Republican Commissioner Sean Cooksey.
Fellow GOP Commissioner Trey Trainor tweeted, “The @FEC greenlights @Google plan to loosen spam filters, overcoming Democratic challenge.”
