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HN is not one homogeneous mass of people. There are libertarians who write pro-free market comments and there are authoritarians who write the opposite.

Libertarianism is fun and games until that freedom bites you.

Exactly and Google is also disgraceful. How dare Google filter spam when the "free market" should decide what emails are received.

Your example makes no sense. Market has decided and wants to use a tool like spam filter.

Crucially the market for email providers is really broad, easy to enter, doesn't have explicit lock-in (although it's a potentially huge job to change your email address, this can be made easier by having your own mail domain), and doesn't have one or two big players making the rules.

Most systems including gmail will let you whitelist senders. You can't whitelist apps onto an iPhone without jailbreaking it.