Despitea defeat in federal court on Tuesday, the Trump administration's antitrust enforcers are still going after Google. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google's parent company, Alphabet, an email last week notifying him that "Alphabet may be engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices," which would violate theFTC Actand justify federal antitrust enforcement. In hisemailto Pichai, Ferguson says it's his "understanding from recent reporting" that Gmail is "routinely block[ing] messages…from Republican senders but fail[ing] to block similar messages sent by Democrats." He specifies that "Alphabet's alleged partisan treatment of comparable messages or messengers in Gmail to achieve political objectives may violate" Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive practices. But the "recent reporting" that Ferguson cites does not support his missive. The chairman's primary citation is a recentNew York Postarticle, which claims Google was caught "flagging Republican fundraising emails as 'dangerous' spam—keeping them from hitting Gmail users' inboxes—while leaving similar solicitations from Democrats untouched" (emphasis added). ThePostarticle is based on a memo obtained from Targeted Victory, a Republican digital strategy firm. From this memo, thePostshared Targeted Victory'sunlisted YouTube video, which shows one of two nearly identical emails being flagged. ThePostimprecisely reports that "the only difference being that one contained a WinRed donation link and the other contained an ActBlue link." If you watch the video closely, you will notice that the emails' hyperlinks do not direct to the WinRed or the ActBlue campaigns. Instead, the "WR Hyperlink Test" email includes a link to aGoogle Docthat itself has a link toa WinRed website. Likewise, the "AB Hyperlink Test" email includes a link to a different Google Doc that links toan ActBlue website. The video shows only the "WR Hyperlink Test" email being accompanied by a warning banner that, upon opening, reads, "This message seems dangerous." The banner prompts the recipient to choose between "Report spam" and "Looks safe." Still,neithermessage was prevented "from hitting Gmail users' inboxes," like Ferguson says, and thePostreported. Though Targeted Victory claims "many cases" of Gmail sending emails containing WinRed links "directly to spam," the video fails to furnish a single example. Moreover, whenReasonrecreated Targeted Victory's video exactly, neither email was flagged. WhenReasonsent emails actually including WinRed and ActBlue links—instead of Google Doc links—the result was the same: Neither email was flagged.The Tennesseanalsoreportsthat "no warning labels were present" when it attempted to replicate the video's example. Perhaps Targeted Victory's memo, which was acquired exclusively by thePost, includes damning evidence of Gmail discriminating against Republican campaign emails. But that's not what the video shows, and that's not what Ferguson saw. (ThePostdid not respond toReason'srequest for the memo.) A Google spokesperson offered an alternative explanation toThe Tennessean: Gmail's "filters are applied equally to everyone, regardless of their political views." As the spokesperson explained to the paper, "a third-party vendor placed WinRed on its blocklist…after campaigns sent emails with links to WinRed to Gmail users who hadn't opted in to receiving emails. Email servers like Google regularly receive lists from third-party services of potentially harmful or unwanted links and emails." Ferguson also cites acommentjointly filed on behalf of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) to the FTC'srequest for public comments regarding technology platform censorship, which claims that "a mere 30 percent…of NRSC emails were successfully delivered to the primary inboxes of Gmail users." The letter does not provide a source, nor does it specify what percentage of analogous Democratic emails reached Gmail users' inboxes. Ferguson's last piece of evidence is the notice of oral argument inRepublican National Committee (RNC) v. Google Inc.(2025). In the case, which wasfirst dismissedin 2023 andagain with prejudicein 2024, the RNCallegesthat Google deliberately diverted its emails to users' spam folders. The chairman invokes the ongoing litigation as evidence of "similar concerns" to his own. Daniel J. Gilman, a senior antitrust scholar at the International Center for Law and Economics,remindsthe good chairman that the RNC's appeal "substantiates only the fact of the appeal, not the facts alleged, much less a finding of illegality under any federal or state law." Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. Evidence that Ferguson does not appear to have. The postDonald Trump's Antitrust Enforcers Continue Their Harassment Campaign Against Googleappeared first onReason.com.
