Google Escapes Suit From RNC Over Fundraiser Email Filtering

A Sacramento federal judge tossed the Republican National Committee’s complaint against Google LLC, saying it failed to argue that state business law prevents the company from filtering its fundraising emails.

Google’s alleged move to direct emails from the RNC to spam folders leading up to the 2022 midterm elections doesn’t rise to the level of substantially injuring customers that would make it an unfair practice, Judge Daniel J. Calabretta of the US District Court for the Eastern District of California wrote in a Wednesday ruling, permanently ending the case.

The RNC’s strongest allegation was that after it filed its October 2022 complaint, the mass email diversions halted, even though the RNC sent more emails leading up to the election, Calabretta wrote.

This accusation that Google acted in bad faith would prevent the federal liability shield for online platforms, Section 230, from applying to the company.

But the RNC didn’t prove that the company’s business practices harmed Google users enough to show it was acting unfairly — nor did it show that Google’s actions violated any other law, Calabretta said.

State law doesn’t bar businesses from discriminating based on political affiliation. Further, California’s common carrier law, which requires messages to be sent reasonably and without discrimination, doesn’t apply to emails.

“The allegations of political discrimination, if true, are certainly concerning and may have wide and severe implications for the future of political discourse,” Calabretta wrote. “It may even be that Google’s conduct is ‘unfair’ in a colloquial, as opposed to a legal, sense. But it is not the role of this Court to decide these significant policy issues that must be addressed by a legislative body in the first instance.”

Consovoy McCarthy PLLC, Dhillon Law Group, and Jeremiah Graham of San Diego, Calif., represent the RNC. Perkins Coie LLP represents Google LLC.

The case is Republican National Committee v. Google LLC, E.D. Cal., No. 2:22-cv-01904-DJC-JDP, 7/31/24.