Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson has sent a letter to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, Inc., addressing concerns about possible violations of the FTC Act related to Gmail's handling of email filtering. The communication follows reports suggesting that Gmail may use partisan methods to decide which emails are marked as spam.
In the letter, Ferguson reminds Alphabet of its responsibilities under the FTC Act. He addresses recent reporting that questions whether Gmail’s spam filters are being administered in a way that could favor or disadvantage certain political content.
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"Today, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson issued a letter to Alphabet, Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai regarding potential FTC Act violations related to partisan administration of Gmail. The letter addresses reporting that Gmail uses partisan methods to determine which emails are flagged as spam, and reminds Alphabet of its obligations under the FTC Act," the agency stated.
