Political Spam is Coming to Your Inbox – Here’s How to Stop It!

Political spam is a problem that’s only getting worse. In the past year alone, we’ve seen a sharp increase in the amount of political spam flooding our inboxes.

Thankfully, you can take a few simple steps to protect yourself from political spam. Here’s what you need to know…

Google’s new political spam program

Google has proposed allowing political campaigns to bypass spam filters, which has caused controversy among both Republicans and Democrats.

While some believe this will incentivize abusive fundraising tactics, others argue that it is within the law and necessary to ensure that all emails are properly received.

Ultimately, the program was approved by a vote of 4-1, with one commissioner abstaining.

Google plans to assess the program after it has been in place for a while to determine its effectiveness.

How to stop political spam

The best way to stop political spam is to set up filters that will catch these messages and prevent them from reaching your inbox.

To filter unwanted messages in Gmail…

1. In your Gmail account, click the “Show Search Options” icon inside the search bar.
2. Enter an address, subject, or word in the blank fields and select “Create filter” at the bottom.
3. Select what you’d like the filter to do.
4. Click on “Create filter.”

Another option is to use a specific message to create your filter.

1. In your Gmail account, check next to the message you want. 
2. Click the “More” icon.
3. Then select “Filter messages like these.”
4. Select what you’d like the filter to do.
5. And finally, click on “Create filter.”

To filter unwanted messages in AOL & Yahoo Mail…

1. Click the Settings icon. 
2. Select “More Settings.”
3. Click “Filters.”
4. Click “Add new filters.“
5. Enter the filter name, set the filter rules, and choose or create a folder for the emails.
6. Click Save at the bottom.

Some things you may want to use to filter out unwanted political emails include the candidate or campaign’s name, email address, district, or race.

Or, if you want to be less specific and filter out all political emails, try filtering out words like ballot, vote, primaries, donation goal, or fundraising deadline.

Following the steps above, you can create filters to catch political spam messages and prevent them from reaching your inbox.

Filtering is the best way to stop unwanted emails and protect yourself from abusive fundraising tactics.

Google plans to assess the program after it has been in place for a while to determine its effectiveness.

Meanwhile, you have a method to filter your inbox only for those emails you’re genuinely interested in reading.

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