You have likely noticed more political texts coming to your phone over the last few years.
In September 2020, nearly 3 billion texts were sent to Americans according to the “Robo Killer” app, which tracks national robocalls and message data.
The biggest spike in texts and calls were just before the 2020 election.
But some people in our area are getting texts about state and local races and referendums.
And you might be getting these even if you’re on a Do Not Call list.
Robo-texts are considered illegal if the sender uses an auto-dialing technology.
But they are legal if a person working for a campaign actually sends the text.
If you’re wondering how nonprofits and campaigns get your number, every state allows them to access data for political purposes.
There are a few steps you can take to try to stop the messages.
The simplest way is to reply “STOP” or “UNSUBSCRIBE.”
You can also turn on a feature that sorts possible spam messages into a different folder.
Just go to settings, tap Messages and turn on “Filter Unknown Senders.”
It will put all messages from people who are not in your contact list into a separate text list.
Android users can do something similar by selecting “Enable Spam protection” under their Message settings.
The FCC recommends you report a campaign if you think they are violating the “auto-dialing” rule.
Just go to FCC.gov/complaints.