How should tech platforms handle political content?

There are 43 days until midterms, which means ‘tis the season of full-on politicking. And thanks to the launch of a new Google pilot program, Gmail users may start seeing more political emails in their inboxes, the tech giant revealed to Axios last week.

📧 A deeper dive… Once political campaigns are enrolled in the pilot program, which was approved by the Federal Elections Commission last month, they’ll no longer be subject to Gmail’s usual forms of spam detection – though the company will still scan the messages for signs of phishing or malware.

• Per Axios, users receiving their first email from a campaign in the program will see a “prominent” banner at the top with three options: keep seeing the messages, unsubscribe, or report as spam (... we’re not exactly sure what this button does).

🚩 Zoom out: Google has come under fire in recent months over concerns that Republican fundraising and campaign emails are flagged by Gmail’s spam filters more often than those from Democrats, as was shown in a North Carolina State University study published in April.

🙅‍♀️ A different approach: This past Thursday, TikTok banned all political fundraising and other money-making opportunities for politicians and government accounts – which covers ads, requests for donations, e-commerce, and gifts.

• The short-video platform is also trying out a system of mandatory verification for all US accounts belonging to governments, politicians, and political parties. This will last until midterms, TikTok said.

+One interesting thing: TV ads for Senate, House and governor's races across America have been breaking records for negativity so far this fall, per a new report from the Wesleyan Media Project.

📊 Flash poll: How do you think tech platforms should handle political content?

Ensure that it reaches as many people as possible (like Gmail)

Completely ban it from their platforms (like TikTok)

Something in the middle