The Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM), which is campaigning for Texas to leave the United States, has claimed 80 percent of the groups email’s that reference its name or Texan independence are being diverted into its subscriber’s spam folders on Gmail.
Why It Matters
Texan nationalists want Texas to become an independent republic, as it was briefly between 1836 and 1845.
TNM leader Daniel Miller told Newsweek the issue with Gmail “has reached a critical stage” where the group is “effectively blocked” from communicating with a large body of its supporters who signed up to receive emails.
Texan nationalists have scored a number of major wins over the past year, which saw the Republican Party of Texas calling for a referendum on whether the state should “reassert its status as an independent nation” in its 2024 policy platform.
What To Know
In a Facebook post on Tuesday the TNM said: “Our web development team was investigating why so many of our emails are landing in SPAM folders for Gmail users. After extensive testing, we discovered something deeply concerning that wasn’t on our end.
“When our emails contained certain terms related to Texas independence or the name of our organization, they landed in SPAM folders 80% of the time. Same sender address with different content? Straight to the INBOX.
“Let that sink in for a minute. A major email provider appears to be filtering messages based on specific terms related to our cause. Not spam patterns. Not sender reputation. Just particular words that relate to Texas sovereignty.”
They later added: “The Federal Government has buried states’ rights at the bottom of a landfill, and now it seems Big Tech is STILL helping them keep it there by controlling what information reaches your inbox.”
In an interview with Newsweek Miller said the TNM had conducted tests comparing what happened to emails sent to Gmail accounts with content explicitly advocating for Texan independence versus politically neutral content.
He said: “We selected domains that had previously not been used for email sending. We then created test accounts on Gmail and selected some users that already had Gmail accounts who were having the issue of all TNM emails going to spam…
“We started sending emails with neutral content as well as emails related to the TNM. In over 80 percent of the cases, emails with specific mentions of Text, the TNM, or Texas Nationalist Movement hit the spam folders regardless of the sending domain. Neutral emails went straight to the inbox.”
Speaking to Newsweek a spokesperson for Gmail said they had not received a Sender Contact Form from the TNM outlining the issue in detail stating: “We can’t look at this comprehensively under the hood without more information.”
They added: “This is just a guess, but not yet having seen any of the specifics, I wonder if this group has met the bulk sender requirements for sending a relatively high rate of messages to Gmail users every day.
“These are largely technical configuration items, intended to bolster the backend authentication process for email, which is key to overall email security.”
What People Are Saying
Speaking to Newsweek Miller said: “This has been a major issue for us for years now that has affected everyone in the TNM, from top leadership to brand new supporters. It’s not isolated to email service providers…
“Texas has a law on the books that prevents viewpoint discrimination by email service providers. It was a provision in HB20 which became known more for its provisions against viewpoint discrimination by social media companies. However, there is a specific section that applies to email service providers. HB20 allows for monetary fines of $10 per unlawfully impeded message and up to $25,000 per day of non-compliance.”
Texas House Bill 20, which Governor Greg Abbott signed into law in September 2021, made it illegal for social media platforms operating in Texas to censor political “viewpoints” unless they violate federal law or are included in one of a small number of exemptions.
What Happens Next
Gmail has requested additional information about the issue from the TNM, after which it said it will be able to investigate further.
The post Texas Independence Group Says ‘Big Tech’ Silencing Texit Push appeared first on Newsweek.
