State AGs Ask FCC to Act Aggressively Against Unwanted Robotexts

The attorneys general from 28 states urged the FCC to do anything that could help block illegal and unwanted robotexts to consumers, in reply comments on a March Further NPRM (see 2303160061). The AGs conceded that rules for robocalls may not be an exact match for robotexts. Carriers continue to urge caution in the approach taken by the commission, noting work already underway (see 2305090047).

“To the extent that the Commission has determined that extending the robocall blocking protocols to robotexts will actually bring a measurable benefit to consumers across the country in preventing fraud, the State AGs support such a proposal,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-402. The filing was signed by AGs from large and small states across the U.S., from Alaska and Alabama to California and was led by Pennsylvania AG Michelle Henry. The AG from New Hampshire also supported the filing.

The AGs urged the commission “to continue exploring ways in which rules specific to the unique infrastructure, players, and technology of messaging and robotexting can be proposed and deployed to effectively and efficiently mitigate the continuing, burgeoning threat targeting our consumers.” They acknowledged that “comparable success in mitigating illegal robotexts may not precisely align with the playbook that has been so effectively devised and refined by the Commission to mitigate illegal robocalls.”

Banks, credit unions, and other financial services providers, and their customers, "are negatively impacted by bad actors that increasingly send text messages that impersonate legitimate companies, with intent to defraud,” said groups representing lenders. They noted that as of 2021, U.S. consumers are targeted each year by more fraudulent texts than calls. The associations said they support an FCC proposal to require terminating wireless providers to investigate and potentially block texts from a sender “after they are on notice from the Commission that the sender is transmitting suspected illegal texts.”

The financial associations urged the commission to apply the requirement “to entities that originate text messages, as these entities are best positioned to stop illegal texts from being sent in the first place.” The FCC should “finalize a requirement that text messages be authenticated and set a deadline for the development and mandatory implementation of a text message authentication solution.” The filing was signed by the American Bankers Association, ACA International, the American Financial Services Association, the Bank Policy Institute, Credit Union National Association, the Mortgage Bankers Association, the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions and other groups.

Most initial comments cautioned “against adopting proposals in the FNPRM that could undermine existing and continuously-evolving efforts, which protect consumers from billions of spam text messages each year,” CTIA said. “Borrowing rules and requirements from the Commission’s robocall regime would be ineffective against the threats that are most common in the context of spam text messaging, as the voice and text ecosystems function differently, are made up of different players, face different threat-vectors, and thus demand different solutions,” the group said.

Rules proposed in the FNPRM “would impose an excessive burden on rural and small carriers,” the Rural Wireless Association said. “RWA members and other small and rural carriers have significant resource and funding constraints that make it extremely difficult to comply with short deadlines and additional unfunded regulatory mandates.” Providers are making progress and the FCC should refrain from adopting additional rules “at this time to avoid disrupting the work already being done and to avoid putting unnecessary burdens on providers,” the Competitive Carriers Association said.

T-Mobile said it has been “investing in tools and solutions that protect consumers from spam text messages for years.” The FCC shouldn’t assume “solutions designed to address robocalls will address the challenges unique to spam text messages,” T-Mobile said: The company’s messaging practices are “designed to help ensure that our subscribers maintain control over the messages they want to receive, while enabling non-consumers to use text messaging for legitimate purposes. The Commission should disregard proposals in the record that would undermine these efforts, expose our subscribers to more spam, and are inconsistent with the Commission’s goals in this proceeding.”

Responsible Entities Against Consumer Harassment, which represents direct-to-consumer lead buyers, sought a balanced approach and warned against adopting inflexible rules. “There is no question the lead generation industry has contributed to the robocall nightmare impacting the nation,” the group said: “Yet there is also no question that good actors in the space drive tremendous benefit to consumers and the broader ecommerce backbone of the nation’s economy.”