AI Spam Filters Allegedly Block Legitimate Emails Based on Biased Keyword Detection
AlgorithmWatch tested spam filtering algorithms across Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, GMX, and LaPoste. Their findings reportedly showed that Microsoft Outlook’s spam filter flagged emails based on specific keywords that led to racial and content-based biases blocking legitimate communications. Emails mentioning Nigeria or containing certain financial and sexual health terms were found to be disproportionately marked as spam.
- Date it happened
- 2020-10-22
- Organisation involved
- Yahoo, Outlook, LaPoste, GMX, Gmail
- Product, system or model
- Yahoo! Mail's spam filter, SpamAssassin, Microsoft Outlook's spam filter, LaPoste Mail's spam filter, GMX Mail's spam filter, Gmail's spam filter
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