Posts Tagged: filters

Judge tosses Republican lawsuit against Google over Gmail spam filters

Last year, the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a lawsuit against Google accusing it of political bias over its Gmail spam filters. Now, a federal judge has dismissed that lawsuit, noting that Google was effectively protected by Section 230 of US law, and that the RNC had not "sufficiently pled that Google acted in bad faith" by filtering out campaign emails, The Washington Post has reported. 

According to the lawsuit, Google intentionally marked "millions" of RNC emails as spam, so the group sought reimbursement for "donations it allegedly lost as a result" of that. As evidence, it cited a study finding that Gmail was more likely than Yahoo and other mail systems to mark Republican emails as spam. (One of the study's authors told the Post last year that its findings were cherry-picked.)

Calling the lawsuit a "close case," US District Court judge Daniel Calabretta said the RNC had "failed to plausibly allege its claims" that Google's spam filtering was done in bad faith. Google said that the emails in questions were likely flagged as spam because of user complaints, and cited RNC domain authentication issues and frequent mailouts as other potential issues. 

The court also decided that RNC emails could be deemed "objectionable" based on the CAN-SPAM Act, and the fact that Google flagged them as such was covered by Section 230, which provides immunity to online platforms from civil liability based on third-party content. All that said, the judge said Republicans could still amend the lawsuit to better establish a lack of good faith by Google. 

Interestingly, during last year's mid-term US elections, Google created a loophole allowing political campaigns to dodge Gmail spam filters. However, the RNC reportedly didn't take advantage of the program. Google has since ended the experiment, following largely negative feedback from the public. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/judge-tosses-republican-lawsuit-against-google-over-gmail-spam-filters-075622648.html?src=rss
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June’s 2022 Pixel Feature Drop adds Real Tone Filters, a Vaccine Card shortcut, the Pocket Operator app, and more

Google’s latest Pixel Feature Drop brings a number of additional features, updates, and even a new app to its line-up of Pixel handsets. Already rolling out to eligible Pixel phones, the Feature Drop brings new alerts to At A Glance, the Vaccine Card shortcut, new Pride Month wallpapers, as well as the new Pocket Operator […]

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Why are we obsessed with Instagram’s ‘What are you?’ filters?

We're barely one month into 2020, and one social media trend has truly taken the definition of 'viral' and rammed it down our collective throat: Instagram's "What X are you?" story filters.
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China’s Alipay will add beauty filters when you pay with your face

We all know how startling it can be to accidentally open a front-facing camera and find your own unassuming face looking back at you. Now, imagine if you saw that image every time you made a purchase. In China, Alibaba's e-wallet affiliate Alipay wil…
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Google Lens dining and translation filters roll out this week

Google is acting quickly on its plans to bring clever new filters to Lens. The search firm is starting to roll out its promised Dining and Translate filters to Lens on Android and iOS, giving you some potential time savers. Translate is likely to b…
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Google’s AR tools make it easier for apps to apply face filters

Augmented reality experiences are still in their relative infancy, but because Android runs on so many devices, it can't always assume they'll have dedicated hardware to create extra effects. While Apple is already pushing ahead with AR and packed an…
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Selfie filters are driving new cosmetic surgery trends

Doctors have noticed a new trend: People want to change their body to look like their edited selfies. Specifically, they're referring to photos of themselves taken with apps like Snapchat and Facetune that apply filters to instantly touch-up their ap…
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Instagram introduces face filters complete with koala ears and crowns

If you’ve been craving animal ears and crowns for your Instagram selfies, the Facebook-owned company is here to save the day as their newest update brings face filters and more to the platform. Join us after the break for the details. In a not-so-subtle jab at Snapchat, Instagram’s face filters will work with both the front […]

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