U.S. mobile-service providers will be forced to block suspected robotext messages under new rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The FCC passed the new rules on Thursday in a unanimous 4-0 vote. It's
the FCC's first-ever action cracking down on spam texts, which have been
growing steadily in recent years.
- In the U.S., people received more than 225 billion unsolicited texts last year, or about 700 per phone user.
- The FCC said it received 18,900 robotext complaints in 2022, up from 3,300 in 2015.
- To
help address the issue, the agency will now require carriers to block
robotexts from numbers that appear to be “invalid, unallocated, or
unused.”
- Phone providers must also block texts from numbers identified by the government as not used for texting.
- In
a statement, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said scammers have
discovered that sending a text about a package or payment, along with a
link to a shady site, is an effective way to con people.
- In addition to robotexts, the FCC's order also seeks to close the "lead generator loophole" that has allowed marketers to skirt Do-Not-Call Registry protections.
