- Google has asked federal regulators to OK a plan letting political committees avoid spam filters.
- Gmail users could expect to see more political emails in their main inboxes.
- A public comment period on the Federal Election Commission case is ending soon.
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Google wants to ease its Gmail spam filters when political candidates and committees email you for donations or otherwise try contacting you — and it's asked the Federal Election Commission for its legal blessing.
But few Americans are aware of this pending case. And a deadline for public comment is fast approaching with little publicity from Google or the FEC on the case — or its implication for consumers.
An affirmative ruling by the nation's bipartisan campaign finance regulator could affect tens of millions of Gmail users who could expect more political solicitations landing in their main inboxes unless they proactively opt-out.
"People care about getting spam email, including political email. They have opinions," said Rick Hasen, a law and political science professor at the University of California, Irvine, who edits the Election Law Blog. "The FEC should give the public sufficient time to weigh in on an issue that affects the public in direct way."
The FEC received Google's "advisory opinion" request on July 1 and made it public on July 6. On July 8, in its weekly digest of official announcements, the FEC announced that the public would have until July 11 to comment on Google's request.
But, in an email to Insider, FEC spokesperson Judith Ingram said the public comment deadline would actually be Friday, July 16. She declined to comment on whether the agency believes it has given the public adequate time to comment on the matter.
Axios in late June first reported Google's intentions to seek a ruling from the FEC.
What Google wants
As described in its request to the FEC, Google wants to "launch a pilot program for authorized candidate committees, political party committees, and leadership political action committees" that would ensure the emails of accepted committees "will not be affected by forms of spam detection to which they would otherwise be subject."
Google said that its spam-skirting political pilot program is "not intended to favor or disfavor any particular candidate, party or speaker, nor intended to influence the outcome of any election."
Any committee registered with the FEC, whose emails comply with Google's terms of service and don't contain prohibited content such as malware or phishing schemes, could apply to participate.
However, Google's concerns — articulated in a 15-page letter to the FEC from Allen & Overy LLP attorney Claire Rajan on July 1 — center on whether its efforts would constitute "prohibited in-kind contributions" to political committees.
Put simply: Google wants the government's reassurance that it isn't breaking any law by giving politicians and political operatives a potentially valuable service. Suspected violations of federal campaign finance laws can result in costly investigations and potential civil fines, say nothing of bad press.
The FEC's 6-member, bipartisan board of commissioners must decide on Google's request by the end of August. Google has requested the FEC give its request an "expedited review" and rule on it "within 30 days due to the proximity to upcoming elections."
Anne P. Mitchell, an attorney and CEO of the Institute for Social Internet Public Policy, tweeted a comment she already sent the FEC. In it, she argued that it is a "very bad time indeed to give candidates and campaigns such a free pass" given accusations of abusive political email fundraising practices.
More broadly, political campaigns on both the left and right have taken in recent years to blasting out increasingly hyperbolic, clickbait-y, and sometimes misleading emails in search of money. Recipients of such emails sometimes have not signed up to receive them, as campaigns routinely rent lists of email addresses from data brokers or other political committees.
The FEC has directed people to email comments about the case to the email address ao@fec.gov.
Via PakApNews