Gmail Exempts Political Campaign Emails From Spam Filter for the Upcoming Midterm Elections, Pilot Starts Next Week

Based on a report from The Verge, users from Gmail will now be receiving campaign fundraising emails starting next week as Google rolls out a new filtering system for political-related mails.

These emails will not go directly to the users' spam folders as they will be proofed from the spam filter. This was approved by the United States Federal Election Commission last August after Google requested it.

As Google Spokesperson José Castañeda stated via Axios, "it expects to begin the pilot with a small number of campaigns from both parties and will test whether these changes improve the user experience, and provide more certainty for senders during this election period."

He added that Gmail wants to offer an experience for users to minimize their unwanted emails regardless of their political affiliation.

Politicians who are doing fundraising online have experienced highs and lows as midterm elections approaches. Some reached potential donors that will support their run, some gets flagged on emails.

While Democrats breaks fundraising records after the Roe v. Wade in June, Republicans have fallen short in their own fundraiser named 'small-dollar.'

The Pilot Program

As per the filing of the act, it will be dedicated to the candidate committees, political party committees, and leadership political action committees registered with the Federal Election Committee.

No violations of Gmail's policies will be intended for these emails as they will be exempted from spam detection.

For first-time users that will open a certain political email, a prominent notification will pop up that gives the option if they wish to continue receiving messages from the sender based on a report from 9To5Google.

Flagging Republican Emails

Criticisms from Republicans circulated months ago as Google flags emails from Grand Old Party (GOP) or the Republican Party compared to the other side.

Only this year, a study from North Carolina State University confirmed the accusations, which resulted in creating a political firestorm. Republicans have also said that tech companies from Silicon Valley are biased.

Because of this issue, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy introduced the Political BIAS Email Act last June 21st.

Meanwhile, Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai paid a visit to Capitol Hill last July as he met with other lawmakers. As per Axios, along with the Republican email filtering bill, a tech antitrust bill that sets to proceed to the Senate was also discussed during the meeting.

As of the moment, Google is still currently scanning for phishing and malware. The company stated, "Despite hundreds of negative comments submitted to the FEC arguing against it, the FEC approved the program in August. Eligible committees, abiding by security requirements and best practices as outlined by Google, can now register to participate."

Future feedback from the users will be accommodated by the company as the pilot operates.

This article is owned by TechTimes

Written by Inno Flores