(CN) — A federal judge agreed Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee against Google over emails seeking donations that kept ending up in their recipients' spam folders.
In his 38-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Daniel Calabretta wrote that the Republican National Committee, or RNC, had "not sufficiently pled that Google acted in bad faith in filtering the RNC’s messages into Gmail users’ spam folders." He added that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — a controversial provision that shields platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google from many kinds of liability — protects Google's ability to filter spam, "including marketing emails, as 'objectionable' material'."
The RNC had argued that its emails asking for donations were "plainly not spam because they are only sent to Gmail users who requested them," and therefore not offensive or objectionable. But Calabretta wrote that "just because a user interacts with a company at one point in time does not mean that the user 'solicits' each and every email sent by the entity."
The judge dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning that the RNC can re-file their complaint. The ruling follows a July hearing in which the judge indicated that he was likely to rule in the Silicon Valley-based corporation's favor.
"This case is not over," said RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, in a written statement. "The judge has given us leave to amend and re-file our complaint. This suit represents a crucial action against Big Tech's anti-conservative bias. We look forward to filing our amended complaint and continuing this fight."
Google spokesman José Castañeda said, in an email: “We welcome the court's finding that there are no plausible allegations that Gmail's spam filters discriminate for political purposes. We will continue investing in spam-filtering technologies that protect people from unwanted emails while still allowing senders to reach the inboxes of users who want their messages.”
Filed in October, the RNC's lawsuit accused the tech giant of "unlawfully discriminating" against the party "by throttling its email messages because of the RNC’s political affiliation and views."
"Google has relegated millions of RNC emails en masse to potential donors’ and supporters’ spam folders during pivotal points in election fundraising and community building," the RNC said in their complaint.
Google denied using its spam-blocking software for partisan political ends.
"Nobody likes spam," the company wrote in their motion to dismiss. "The RNC is wrong. Gmail’s spam filtering policies apply equally to emails from all senders, whether they are politically affiliated or not."
Google met a number of times with RNC officials to address their concerns and tried to offer advice on how to avoid its spam filter. Calbretta cited these meetings as evidence that the company had not acted in bad faith.
"The fact that Google engaged with the RNC for nearly a year and made suggestions that improved email performance is inconsistent with a lack of good faith," the judge wrote in his ruling.
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