BOSTON – Madison Medina won’t be able to vote for three years, but the 15-year-old’s phone is still full of text messages from politicians.
“They want me to vote. They want me to send money,” she said. ‘It is much. They ask me a lot.’
She pulled up the evidence on her phone. Various robot texts. One offered a cup with a message printed on the side. The word ‘awake’ with a line through it.
“Are you going to give five bucks to get the anti-woke tumbler?” David Wade asked Madison. “No, I’m not,” she said.
We spoke to many people on the street and in tweets who are fed up. Screenshots sent to us by viewers show both sides bombing people.
15 billion political texts in 2022
Get this, says a spam blocking service called Robokiller. In 2022, Americans received a record 15 billion political text messages. That’s an average of 50 messages for every phone in the country, and 2024 is shaping up to be an even bigger year.
How is this allowed? Well, the FCC rules are very confusing. In principle, campaign calls and text messages are excluded from the Do Not Call list. Generally, campaigns need your permission to send these messages unless they are actually hand-dialled. Most are sent via a so-called “auto-dial”, which allows thousands of numbers to be called simultaneously.
“I never gave permission!” you say.
It’s all in the fine print
Cybersecurity expert Peter Tran says somewhere along the line, you almost certainly have. It’s all in the fine print.
Tran told WBZ: “If you’ve used your number in any type of online ordering, or any type of marketing, or any type of social media platform, those simple end user agreements may say in small print that they can also use your phone number to share. with other service providers.”
Tran warns that these text messages can be more than annoying. They can be dangerous. Some texts will contain a link that contains malware or take you to websites that are not actually associated with a campaign or candidate. Your money goes to a scammer. So never click on a link.
So what can you do?
Tran says reply “stop” to unsubscribe. But don’t stop there. After you answer “stop”, block the number. You can also go to the messaging settings on your phone and filter text messages from anyone not in your contact list.
If you would like to donate, please go directly to the candidate’s official website.
You won’t stop these robot texts completely, but you can slow them down dramatically.
Finally, if you receive a text message that you believe violates FCC rules, please report it by forwarding the text message to “7726” or “Spam.”
If you have a question that you would like us to investigate, please email questionseverything@cbsboston.com.
David Wade
