The Rise of Political Robotexts: How Americans are Being Bombarded with Messages

The Rise of Political Robotexts: Annoying, Dangerous, and Everywhere

BOSTON – Madison Medina won’t be able to vote for three years, still the 15-year-old’s phone has been “blowing up” with text messages from politicians.

“They want me to vote. They want me to send money,” she said. “It’s a lot. They ask me for a lot.”

She pulled up the proof on her phone. Several robotexts. One offered a tumbler with a message printed on the side. The word “woke” with a line going through it.

“Are you going to give the $5 to get the anti-woke tumbler?” David Wade asked Madison. “No, I’m not,” she said.

We spoke with a lot of people on the streets and in tweets who are fed up. From screenshots viewers sent us, both parties are bombarding people.

15 billion political texts in 2022

Get this, a spam blocking service called Robokiller says in 2022, Americans received a record 15 billion political texts. That’s an average of 50 messages for every phone in the country and 2024 is gearing up to be an even bigger year.

How is this allowed? Well, the rules from the FCC are very confusing. Basically, campaign calls and texts are excluded from the Do Not Call list. Generally, campaigns need to have your consent to send these messages-unless they are actually dialed by hand. Most are sent by so-called “auto-dial” which can blast out thousands of numbers at a time.

“I never gave consent!” you say.

It’s all in the fine print

Cyber security expert Peter Tran says somewhere along the line you almost certainly did. It’s all in the fine print.

Tran told WBZ: “If you have 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 have in fine print that they may also share your phone number with other service providers.”

Tran warns these texts can be more than annoying. They can be dangerous. Some texts will include a link that contains malware or will take you to websites that are not actually affiliated with a campaign or a candidate. Your money goes to some 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 reply “stop” then block the number. You can also go to the “messages” settings on your phone and filter out text messages from anyone not in your contact list.

Also, if you want to donate go directly to the candidate’s official website.

You will not entirely stop these robotexts but you can slow them down dramatically.

Lastly, if you receive a text that you think breaks the FCC rules, report it by forwarding the text to “7726” or “Spam.”

If you have a question you’d like us to look into, please email questioneverything@cbsboston.com.