Apple: We Don’t Censor Political Communications

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Several of Apple’s MobileMe users have recently flagged the fact that some of their politically-oriented e-mail notes have been disappearing into the ether, and never reach their destinations.

Some users on MacInTouch, a Mac forum, for example, have recently said that they’ve been trying to send political messages about the repressive government actions in Greece and the Middle East with their web-based MobileMe accounts, but the messages’ recipients never received them.

One report was picked up by CultofMac (to which I occasionally contribute,) where News Editor John Brownlee followed up with a test of the message in question. His tests confirmed that the web version of the MobileMe e-mail service seemed to be blocking, or disappearing the messages.

But the blockage of such notes isn’t intentional, Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller told TPM:

“Apple is not blocking e-mails with political content,” she said. “Occasionally, automatic spam filters may incorrectly block legitimate e-mail. If a customer feels that a legitimate e-mail is blocked, we encourage customers to report it to MobileMe support.”

Nevertheless, if you’re a politico sending out campaign messages of any sort — to avoid hours online with customer support, perhaps you should stick to your desktop client, or to a program like Constant Contact.

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