FCC begins action against spam texts

September 26, 2022

After almost a year of behind-the-scenes work, the FCC has begun to develop rules to combat spam text messages. Here’s an update.

Axios reported that the FCC takes long-delayed step against spam text surge. Commissioners voted 4–0 in favor of this proposal late Friday, September 23, 2022.

RoboKiller reported that about 10.89 billion spam text messages were sent to U.S. subscribers in August 2022. In contrast, YouMail reported that about 4.48 billion robocalls were received by U.S. subscribers in the same month. There were more than twice as many robotexts as robocalls in August.

Momentum

In October 2021, the FCC announced that Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel shared with FCC commissioners proposed rules to combat robotexts. Axios reported that the FCC’s consumer advisory committee began reviewing the issue in April 2022 and issued a study in August.

The study recommended that the FCC should encourage wireless messaging service providers to adopt CTIA’s Messaging Security Best Practices. These best practices include:

Implement know-your-customer processes to vet customers.
Monitor message traffic and block suspicious messages.
Cooperate with other stakeholders in providing information about messages and mitigation steps taken.

Next steps

The Commission is expected to issue a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM). The FNPRM will describe proposed rules and seek input on specific questions. The proposed rules will go through comment and reply comment stages to help shape the final rules. Commissioners will then vote on the proposed rules.

Axios reported that the FCC proposal incorporates some findings from this study.

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