Gmail removes controversial feature that harmed Republicans in US

Gmail removes controversial feature that harmed Republicans in US

Google has removed a controversial feature from Gmail that was flagging Republican fundraising emails in US as "dangerous" and sending them directly to spam.

The move comes after complaints from the GOP consulting firm Targeted Victory, which had warned clients about the issue.

The firm found that emails with links to the GOP fundraising platform WinRed were being blocked and labeled with a red warning label saying they "seem dangerous."

Accusations of bias against Google

Targeted Victory also found that fundraising pitches from the Democratic platform ActBlue were delivered without any issues.

This led to accusations of Google suppressing Republican fundraising emails as part of a broader anti-conservative bias at the tech giant.

A 2022 study by North Carolina State University researchers had already found Gmail flagged 59% more Republican fundraising emails as spam than Democratic ones ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

Problem traced back to SURBL BV's blacklist

The problem with WinRed's emails was traced back to Google's reliance on SURBL BV, a Netherlands-based "intelligence and reputation services" firm.

The company maintains datasets used to filter out potentially spammy emails, adding them to a "blacklist."

However, after being contacted directly by WinRed about the apparent bias, SURBL BV agreed to remove WinRed from its blacklist on August 20.

Google stops using SURBL data

After being contacted by The New York Post about the issue, Google stopped using SURBL's data in Gmail's filtering.

"After a review found that our own advanced protections are the most effective way to protect users, we stopped incorporating SURBL as a signal," said Jose Castaneda, a spokesperson for Google.

He added that Gmail uses hundreds of signals to catch spammy emails and SURBL was just one of them.