The Robocall Scourge: Special Report Finds a Continuing Problem

Communications Daily presents our Special Report on efforts to confront the perennial problem of robocalls and robotexts, still the most common complaint received by the FCC. We look at efforts at the state, national and international levels to address a problem that many feel is only worsening, with spoofing and alluring links in robotexts now increasingly the methods of choice.

Leading us off, Comm Daily reporter Matt Daneman takes a close look at FCC data obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request, and concludes that spoofing is a particularly frequent subject of citizen complaints to the agency. He looks at a typical month of robocall complaints, which remain by far the most common ones the FCC receives.

State and federal legislators, acting together and independently, are working to address constituent rage over robocalls and robotexts, reports Comm Daily’s states reporter Adam Bender. His story provides an overview of their efforts as elected officials seek to respond to this hottest of hot button issues.

Americans received about 852 million political robocalls and 18.5 billion political robotexts in 2020, according one count, reports Comm Daily’s wireline reporter Gabriella Novello, and the trend will continue since political communications aren’t banned by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. She considers the effect on voters of calls that all too often use misinformation to discourage voting.

The definition of “automatic telephone dialing system” as reflected in the year-old Facebook v. Duguid Supreme Court decision is the focus of a report by Comm Daily’s Howard Buskirk. The ruling reduced the number of Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuits and hasn’t increased robocalls, as some predicted.

Comm Daily’s European correspondent Dugie Standeford provides a look at efforts there to combat the robotext and robocall affliction. She reports that U.K. regulators in particular are responding to frequent complaints, which increasingly are about scams rather than mere annoyance.