Email provider Mailchimp has announced that it will remove misleading content at its own discretion. Mailchimp has confirmed the reports.
According to The Daily Signal, the company posted this message to customers on Wednesday:
“Mailchimp does not allow the distribution of Content that is, in our sole discretion, materially false, inaccurate, or misleading in a way that could deceive or confuse others about important
events, topics, or circumstances.”
The development comes late in a year when tech companies are under increasing pressure to define how they control content.
It was not
clear at deadline how Mailchimp plans to enforce this, or if it will have a political skew. The company could end up going against large clients, including political parties.
And it was
not apparent if the policy covers only websites or email and all other channels.
The company says it will proceed by “issuing a warning to, or suspending or terminating an
account,” The Daily Signal says.
Reclaim the Net, a site that claims to defend free speech, opines that "misinformation" is often simply something these companies don’t like for
political or ideological reasons.
UPDATE: Mailchimp has issue this statement:
“We recognize how important it is to curb the spread of misinformation, and we take it
very seriously. Mailchimp recently updated its Standard Terms of Use(STOU) to make it even more clear that we do not allow the use of our Marketing Platform to
disseminate misinformation. Specifically, Mailchimp updated its terms to further clarify our Rules (Section 17 of STOU), which state that we do not allow the distribution of Content that is materially
false, inaccurate, or misleading in a way that could deceive or confuse others about important events, topics, or circumstances. This deception or confusion can cause real-world harm.
"We use a combination of human-run and automated systems to guard against abuse, and we take action against misuse of our platform when we find it through our own processes or after
investigating when we receive complaints.”