Expect plenty of political texts through November
INDIANAPOLIS – Just over a week from the Indiana primary, you may already be getting a lot of political text messages.
The most recent data from RoboKiller shows Americans received about 15 billion political texts leading up to the midterm election in 2022. There is every reason to believe there will be more as Hoosiers will be voting for president and governor in November.
Can you stop these campaign ads and polling solicitations from blowing up your phone? The short answer is no, not really.
Unlike marketing and sales robocalls or texts, political texts are considered protected free speech, according to the FCC, as long as the sender isn’t using “auto-dial” technology. Even if you’re on the state and federal “Do Not Call” list, you can still get these. You can, however, report them as “junk” and your phone’s operating system might filter them. But there’s no guarantee of that.
The biggest thing to remember is to not respond to or interact with the sender of the text. There are scammers out there posing as campaigns and pollsters and they may spoof their number to get around any filter you have.
If you click on a link they send you, even if it’s legitimate, they now know that your number is active and they’ll probably reach out again. If it’s bogus the link could take you to a fake website to install malware or trackers on your phone.
If you’re interested in taking a poll, or donating to a campaign, it’s best to find their website on your own and take that route. Clicking on a dangerous link could be a lot worse than simply having to delete an unwanted text.
Fortunately, the text messages will probably lighten up after next Tuesday’s primary. However, you can expect them to return when we start getting closer to November.
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