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“Text messages must be verified from their purported senders, and people should only receive messages from senders who already have permission.”
Americans have grown used to political advertisements dominating television airwaves during election season, but now not even our mobile phones are safe. More than 15 billion political texts were sent in 2022, a number poised to grow as campaigns become more sophisticated. While some of these messages provide important context for voting decisions, unsubscribing or blocking unwanted spam can seem impossible.
Here’s the problem: regulations around mass texting are outdated and in desperate need of reform. With telecoms’ explosive growth in the internet age, a patchwork of rules and regulations has struggled to manage the complexity. Bad actors can abuse the system, putting companies that uphold the highest standards at a disadvantage.
Consistent regulations can keep these channels secure and free from abuse, while creating a level playing field required for industry competition.
With 97% of Americans owning a cell phone, more than half of all U.S. businesses (55%) use texting or SMS to reach their customers. It’s a win-win for both parties. Text messages are less invasive than a phone call and tend to get read more quickly than emails. They offer instant answers to basic questions outside normal business hours. Skipping long wait times for operators or receiving reminders about appointments puts precious minutes back in busy schedules. In fact, 91% of customers like receiving texts from businesses.
Before businesses can engage in mass text-messaging campaigns, they must complete a registration process to use either toll-free phone, short code (five or six digits), or 10-digit long-code phone numbers. Once registration is approved, these numbers are stored in a central database by the operators and suppliers involved in the registration process.
The well-intended goal of this process is preventing abuse and blocking unwanted messages from senders. But there are problems. For one, the registration process is inconsistent across the different types of numbers, and some are much easier than others. Senders can start texting with a toll-free number almost immediately, even prior to completing a verification. In some cases, relatively little information is required about entity or content of the messages the sender wants to text. Once the phone number is turned on the texts start flying.
“When abusive senders get blocked, they simply register a new toll-free number.”
When abusive senders get blocked, they simply register a new toll-free number — or a short code or 10-digit-long number—and keep spamming. The result is more spam, and a higher chance that legitimate texts are flagged, which can create big problems for compliant/legitimate businesses that depend on SMS to communicate with employees and customers.
Enforcement is a challenge, too. Rules governing these communications are based on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 — text messages did not exist 32 years ago. The legislation was intended for telephone calls and faxes. The CTIA, a trusted trade association representing wireless services, issues guidelines but they’re voluntary. This gray area creates roadblocks for companies seeking to operate within the spirit and letter of the law and eliminate spam from SMS channels. And it creates perverse incentives that reward bad actors and annoy people.
In the aftermath of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, social media companies faced questions about misinformation on their platforms. To quell the backlash, some of these entities took proactive steps to monitor their content for accuracy. But for those willing to bend the rules with text-message spam, no such incentive system exists, either in the form of public pressure or looming regulatory action.
In 2022, close to 10,000 fraud reports regarding political text messages were filed with the Federal Trade Commission. A Morning Consult survey found that more than four out of five people reported frustration with unsolicited messages. Those on the receiving end of relentless, unwanted spam are less likely to opt into communications from well-meaning businesses seeking their permission. It’s hard to blame them.
To end this vicious cycle, federal requirements for text message approval must be uniform and consistently enforced. Requirements for text messages should also be consistent regardless of the sender, the platform used, or the carriers that support these programs. Two guiding principles should drive this process: text messages must be verified from their purported senders, and people should only receive messages from senders who already have their permission. Bad actors should face the same penalties that carry teeth and change behavior.
Silvio Kutic is the co-founder and CEO of Infobip, a global cloud communications company.
More: That may not be your daughter crying on the phone. Here’s what to know about AI-powered scams.
