Summer testing shows Google Gmail sent GOP donation emails to spam while ActBlue delivered

By Thomas Barrabi | New York Post

Google is at it again — and GOP campaign donations could be a casualty.

The search giant 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, a consulting firm warned.

That’s despite repeatedly sparking headlines and lawsuits in recent years over the allegedly partisan practice. Last year, a federal judge tossed a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee that complained of biased email filtering.

In 2023, the Federal Election Commission dismissed an RNC complaint alleging discrimination in Gmail’s spam filters.

Nonetheless, Targeted Victory – whose clients include the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Rep. Steve Scalise and Sen. Marsha Blackburn – said it observed that the “serious and troubling” trend was still going on as recently as June and July of this year.

Gmail has been flagging emails containing links to the fundraising platform WinRed and “in many cases, sending them directly to spam,” according to a copy of the memo to clients exclusively obtained by The Post.

Meanwhile, Targeted Victory conducted tests in which emails containing links to the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue were delivered without issue. The memo included video demonstrations of the firm’s tests.  

“If Gmail is allowed to quietly suppress WinRed links while giving ActBlue a free pass, it will continue to tilt the playing field in ways that voters never see, but campaigns will feel every single day,” the memo said.

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