Despite a defeat in federal court on Tuesday, the Trump administration's antitrust enforcers are still going after Google.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google's parent company, Alphabet, an email last week notifying him that "Alphabet may be engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices," which would violate the FTC Act and justify federal antitrust enforcement.
In his email to Pichai, Ferguson says it's his "understanding from recent reporting" that Gmail is "routinely block[ing] messages…from Republican senders but fail[ing] to block similar messages sent by Democrats." He specifies that "Alphabet's alleged partisan treatment of comparable messages or messengers in Gmail to achieve political objectives may violate" Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive practices.
