this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2025
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cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/36488526

Letter.

My understanding from recent reporting is that Gmail’s spam filters routinely block messages from reaching consumers when those messages come from Republican senders but fail to block similar messages sent by Democrats. Indeed, according to recent reporting, Alphabet has “been caught this summer flagging Republican fundraising emails as ‘dangerous’ spam— keeping them from hitting Gmail users’ inboxes—while leaving similar solicitations from Democrats untouched….” Likewise, commenters on the FTC’s request for information regarding Technology Platform Censorship have complained that Google is using a partisan approach in administering its spam filters. And finally, as you know, similar concerns have resulted in ongoing litigation against Google in other settings.

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[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 141 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Maybe Republicans should stop trying to scam us, then.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 48 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Then what would make them Republicans? Just the bigotry?

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 29 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Yeah, like in the good ol' days

[–] Subdivide6857@midwest.social 13 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Back when men were men. And women couldn’t vote.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

And small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri.

[–] Late2TheParty@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I want to live in that world!

[–] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 3 weeks ago

Host or purchase from a reputable email provider and make your mail your own :)

[–] AmbitiousProcess@piefed.social 93 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

https://workspace.google.com/blog/identity-and-security/an-overview-of-gmails-spam-filters

User feedback, such as when a user marks a certain email as spam or signals they want a sender’s emails in their inbox, is key to this filtering process, and our filters learn from user actions.

Maybe a lot of people just mark it as spam for some reason, wonder why that could be? Could it be because they simply don't like your emails and think they feel spammy? No, that couldn't be it, it has to be that the same company that kissed up to Trump also just hates republicans now for some reason! /s

[–] humanspiral@lemmy.ca 13 points 3 weeks ago

Not letting me spam you is treading on me!!!!

[–] dan1101@lemmy.world 54 points 3 weeks ago

I've had about enough of these fascist snowflakes.

[–] mikenurre@lemmy.world 53 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

If their staff weren't incompetent and understand SPF records, DKIM and DMARC, they wouldn't be flagged as spam. But when morons who don't understand the tech fail at using it, it's not the systems fault for identifying it as garbage. Source- me, 25 years supporting email systems.

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Those don’t guarantee delivery. A known spam domain or IP, among a few other things, can also result in blocks.

[–] Pumasuedeblue@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

And are also the sender's problem.

[–] Anivia@feddit.org 1 points 3 weeks ago

Yes, but flagging usually happens automatically and is not always your fault

https://cfenollosa.com/blog/after-self-hosting-my-email-for-twenty-three-years-i-have-thrown-in-the-towel-the-oligopoly-has-won.html

Doesn't matter how competent you are, self hosting is impossible. This is one of those broken clock is right moments

[–] Anon518@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

That's not really true. If something like 1-3% of recipients mark your email as spam, they're all going to spam.

[–] DreamlandLividity@lemmy.world 39 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (6 children)

PSA: Don't use gmail. Sure, it is a good email and is free. And you may not care about privacy, even though you should. But the bigger danger is your e-mail being tied to your wider google and youtube account. Get banned for spamming youtube live chat, or writing "inappropriate" comment, or maybe for using ad-blocker in the future, and you can say goodbeye not just to your youtube account, but emails and drive data. This has already happend in the past, when youtube algorithm evaluated votening in livestream chat by sending 1 or 2 as spam and banned peoples entire google accounts.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 24 points 3 weeks ago (9 children)

This isn't about Republican officials using Gmail, it's about Republicans targeting Gmail addresses.

If you don't want to be identified as spam, don't send spammy content. Really that simple.

[–] DreamlandLividity@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I am not telling that to republican politicians. There are clearly a lot of people who use gmail for republicans to care about it and I have seen people here worried gmail would stop respecting their filter settings. So I advise them to stop using gmail.

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[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Its not even a good email provider. It has horribly aggressive filtering and logging in through a proper client like thunderbid/k9mail always requires tedious extra steps.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I like the "tags instead of folders" approach though. It's been a while since I checked; can a normal IMAP-based account + email client like Thunderbird do that these days?

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[–] hypeerror@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Have any suggestions on a decent alternative?

I've heard discouraging stories about protonmail but would like a viable no hassle alternative if you have one.

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 weeks ago

Proton is ok, also tuta

[–] DreamlandLividity@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

I use tuta. You can also add your own domain for infinite addresses (great for managing spam).

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[–] lukaro@lemmy.zip 21 points 3 weeks ago

The better honor the filters I have set to keep that shit far from my inbox. I trust 3 week old gas station sushi more than any thing a republican can say.

[–] etherphon@piefed.world 19 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Superb, fucking with the spam filters will make the transition away from gmail so much easier.

[–] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 3 weeks ago

I could always use more excuses to de-google! XD

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 weeks ago

It's too bad. Postini is a terrific spam filter.

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago

Lol. Send me the email. I'm not just going to filter it. Y'all are so bad at email I could reply all and tank your email chain with an all hands message of my asshole. Seriously, Republicans what even is this? If you don't want it marked as spam don't send it to people who don't want and didn't ask for it.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 14 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

They damn well better continue to filter spam as spam. Republican political campaign emails are more like a chain letter than an actual advertisement.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 11 points 3 weeks ago

and those spam filters get trained by people marking emails as spam. Its funny that they publicly just admitted that they are less popular than democrats from a source that cannot possibly have been biased.

[–] gramie@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 weeks ago

I get three to five spam emails every day from Republican agents asking "Patriots" to send money to help defend against the woke liberals. They keep changing the subjects and domains sent from, so it is difficult to block them effectively.

The kicker is that I live in Canada, and have never lived in the US or been eligible to vote in a US election.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 11 points 3 weeks ago

Only a few years since "but her emails[sic]" and now senators are conducting official business on a pubcloud mail provider.

[–] StrawberryPigtails@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That’s fine. My filters will just continue sending them to /dev/null.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 11 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

"I got mine so screw everyone else" is a common Republican refrain.

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[–] sssm@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

About half the business related emails I get from my Secretary of State wouldn’t pass a spam filter. Their braynes are fucked.

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 5 points 3 weeks ago

But keep that shit and use AI to find incriminating.

[–] klu9@piefed.social 4 points 3 weeks ago

The FTC will never demand money, make threats,

Uh...

[–] grue@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

Let's be honest: if Google's spam filters were biased they'd be filtering and suppressing Democrat emails, not Republican ones.

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