*A (very long, but) IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO OUR RED PILL EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:
A few weeks ago, our previous email partner, Mailchimp – without warning or notification of any kind – decided to delete our Red Pill email account. We were good customers. No billing issues. No previous warnings or policy infractions. Nothing.
They just deleted our account.
As a customer in good standing, we frantically contacted the corporate office with two goals:
#1: Retrieving our email subscriber list. We’ve worked hard to earn your trust and interest. We take that very seriously.
#2: Identifying the problem. What did we do? And how could we prevent any future problems or issues?
The good news is, we were able to secure our subscriber list. If you were subscribing to Red Pill emails previously… all good. You’re “still on the list”.
If you were TRYING to subscribe and were encountering a broken link, missing page or problems whatsoever… apologies. Our new signup form can be found here:
While we encountered some very nice and helpful individuals within Mailchimp who were willing to help us, those individuals did not have the authority to reinstate our account. Our account was deleted from the “Executive” (gasp!) level for “non-malicious compliance issues” (oh my!) and we were given some links to this company’s compliance policy to read thoroughly.
So we did.
What we read was what you’d expect:
No pornography, threats, hate speech, etc.
None of which Red Pill was partaking or participating in.
We repeatedly asked Mailchimp to provide us with a specific example of something we published that violated any of the Mailchimp policies that we were provided links to and asked to review. We asked in the spirit of understanding and wanting to continue being a good, honorable customer.
The company was unable to provide any specifics. And simply cited their own policy of having the ability to “cancel any account, at any time, per our own discretion.”
Having made some genuine relationships inside this company, we pressed a few of our allies within this company for a further explanation as to what exactly happened with our account.
We were told on two separate/unrelated occasions that within Mailchimp, accounts are flagged and deleted exclusively by AI (Artificial Intelligence).
We were told that there are literally no human beings involved in making the decisions on which accounts get flagged to be suspended/deleted. Which would explain why were were unable to be given any specifics on whatever our “policy infringement” was.
It’s all algorithm-based. And the algorithm is making decisions based upon certain keywords and phrases.
Our account was deleted and cancelled by corporate AI based on keywords and phrases contained in our regular emails to our subscribers. We think it is safe to say that none of our previous email newsletters contained anything REMOTELY CLOSE to pornography, threats of hate speech.
Regardless, the company’s algorithm flagged Red Pill content. For whatever reason.
It was also expressed to us – albeit informally – that recent new company policies have been implemented at the company that (their words, not ours) “seem to favor the woke agenda stuff.”
*OF NOTE: The administrative team behind The Red Pill Revolution have been using Mailchimp for many, many years across a vast variety of projects. No issues EVER in regards to content policies.
Less than a year ago (Sept 2021) Mailchimp was acquired by Intuit, the behemoth corporation behind QuickBooks, TurboTax, Mint.com, ProConnect and Credit Karma. Needless to say Intuit is a major player in the world of taxes and finance.
Is it just coincidence that shortly after being acquired by a corporate giant, a once independent-friendly company suddenly starts behaving like editorial thought police, censoring content at their discretion… and not even according to their very own policies?
It’s very unfortunate. But this is a very real example of how the battle lines are constantly being drawn. At least, with Mailchimp, we now know where they now stand ideologically as a company.
Red Pill now has a NEW email partner. And in hopes of maintaining this new email relationship… we are taking a very different approach to our email content.
We certainly don’t want to offend, upset or make any algorithms feel uncomfortable.
So we won’t.
Red Pill emails aren’t just going soft… they’re going SUPER-soft!
We hope you understand and enjoy the change.
We’re just going to have fun with it.
