CHARLOTTE, NC — Ah, the sweet post-election silence. No more relentless political robo-texts bombarding our phones! We can all agree that this is a welcome relief. But what have we learned from this flood of messages?

The campaign season saw an unprecedented surge in political texting. Reports indicate that over 700 million texts were sent daily in September alone.

The Trump and Harris campaigns have been particularly active, with their messages becoming the subject of SNL skits and TikTok trends.

But were these legal texts? The FCC regulates robotexts similarly to robocalls, requiring recipients’ prior consent.

However, it is clear that many of us never signed up. And while replying “STOP” should in theory stop the texts, it often signals to bots that your number is active, leading to more texts from different numbers.

So what is the best approach? Simply ignore, delete or remove these unwanted messages. You can also report your operator’s number.

Remember, while the election is over, robo-texts are here to stay. We can expect to see a continued increase in these messages, with estimates suggesting that over 15 billion political texts have been
sent in 2022.

It is essential that we stay informed about our rights and the laws regarding these messages. While we may be celebrating the end of campaign texts, the fight against spam and junk mail
continue.

Key recommendations:

● Political bots flooded our phones during the campaign season.

● The FCC requires prior consent for such messages, but this rule is often ignored.

Do you remember ever signing up?

● “STOP” response may not be effective and could lead to more spam.

● The best approach is to ignore, delete and report spam.

● Bot texts are a persistent problem and we must remain vigilant.

Let’s hope for a future where our phones are used for communication, not constant
bombardment.