diff --git a/src/google/provisioning.ts b/src/google/provisioning.ts
index 935e327..e3dd916 100644
--- a/src/google/provisioning.ts
+++ b/src/google/provisioning.ts
@@ -54,6 +54,34 @@ export async function createGroupAlias(aliasEmail: string, displayName: string):
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Stop Gmail judging our own redistribution as spam.
+ *
+ * A member address is a Group, so mail reaches the mailbox on a second hop.
+ * DMARC cannot align on a forwarded message, and Gmail files legitimate mail
+ * as spam on that basis -- even though it authenticated on arrival and Google
+ * preserved the proof in the ARC chain it wrote itself.
+ *
+ * Scoped to the Group's own List-Id, so this exempts exactly the hop labMail
+ * created and nothing else. Google still filters the message when it first
+ * arrives for the Group; what this drops is the second judgement, the one made
+ * after the alignment it needs has been lost.
+ */
+export async function ensureNeverSpam(aliasEmail: string): Promise<void> {
+  const [local, domain] = aliasEmail.trim().toLowerCase().split('@')
+  if (!local || !domain) return
+  const query = `list:${local}.${domain}`
+
+  const api = gmail()
+  const existing = await api.users.settings.filters.list({ userId: 'me' })
+  if ((existing.data.filter ?? []).some((f) => f.criteria?.query === query)) return
+
+  await api.users.settings.filters.create({
+    userId: 'me',
+    requestBody: { criteria: { query }, action: { removeLabelIds: ['SPAM'] } },
+  })
+}
+
 export interface SendAsResult {
   verified: boolean
   /** Why the address cannot send yet, when it cannot. */
@@ -85,6 +113,13 @@ export async function provisionMember(aliasEmail: string, displayName: string):
   // here is still fatal to it.
   await createGroupAlias(aliasEmail, displayName)
 
+  // Not fatal: the address works without it, it just collects false spam.
+  try {
+    await ensureNeverSpam(aliasEmail)
+  } catch (err) {
+    console.error(`[provision] spam exemption for ${aliasEmail}:`, (err as Error).message)
+  }
+
   // Sending is a separate question, and not one LabMail can settle: the
   // send-as entry has to be added by hand. Report it as missing unless it is
   // already there, and let the sync tick notice when it appears.
diff --git a/src/google/sync.ts b/src/google/sync.ts
index a7ef114..fff9453 100644
--- a/src/google/sync.ts
+++ b/src/google/sync.ts
@@ -221,10 +221,19 @@ async function fetchAndStore(ids: string[], ctx: ReturnType<typeof ownershipCont
   const api = gmail()
   let stored = 0
   await mapLimit(ids, 8, async (id) => {
-    const res = await withRetry(
-      () => api.users.messages.get({ userId: 'me', id, format: 'full' }),
-      `messages.get ${id}`,
-    )
+    let res
+    try {
+      res = await withRetry(
+        () => api.users.messages.get({ userId: 'me', id, format: 'full' }),
+        `messages.get ${id}`,
+      )
+    } catch (err) {
+      // Gone between the history record and this fetch -- deleted in Gmail, or
+      // swept from Spam. There is nothing to store, and failing the batch would
+      // leave the cursor stuck on it and stop mail arriving at all.
+      if ((err as { code?: number })?.code === 404) return
+      throw err
+    }
     const parsed = parseMessage(res.data)
     parsed.labels = await rescueConfirmation(parsed)
     storeMessage(parsed, ctx)
diff --git a/src/web/server.ts b/src/web/server.ts
index a2abed1..5fe4f3f 100644
--- a/src/web/server.ts
+++ b/src/web/server.ts
@@ -51,6 +51,29 @@ async function bootstrapAdmin(): Promise<void> {
   console.log(`[boot] created admin account "${config.admin.username}"`)
 }
 
+/**
+ * Give every existing address the spam exemption new ones get at approval.
+ *
+ * Once per process rather than per tick: it is a couple of API calls, and an
+ * address that gains the exemption keeps it.
+ */
+let exempted = false
+async function exemptMembersOnce(): Promise<void> {
+  if (exempted) return
+  exempted = true
+  const rows = db.prepare(
+    `SELECT alias_email FROM users WHERE status = 'active' AND alias_email IS NOT NULL`,
+  ).all() as { alias_email: string }[]
+  try {
+    const { ensureNeverSpam } = await import('../google/provisioning.ts')
+    for (const row of rows) await ensureNeverSpam(row.alias_email)
+  } catch (err) {
+    // Retried on the next start; nothing else depends on it.
+    exempted = false
+    console.error('[sync] spam exemptions:', (err as Error).message)
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Periodic sync, in-process so a deployment stays one container.
  * No-op until Google is connected; never overlaps itself.
@@ -66,6 +89,7 @@ async function syncTick(): Promise<void> {
     await linkDrafts()
     // Send-as entries change outside LabMail; one request per tick notices.
     await reconcileSendAs()
+    await exemptMembersOnce()
     if (result.changed > 0 || assigned > 0) {
       console.log(`[sync] ${result.changed} changed, ${assigned} newly attributed`)
     }