Text messaging campaigns are so effective because consumers open and read their texts.  This isn’t by accident. The stakeholders in the wireless messaging ecosystem work hard every day to maintain consumer trust in text messaging and limit spam in the wireless text messaging environment.

Surveys to assess consumer attitudes about political text messages show that consumers do not like getting unsolicited messages, and they have even stronger negative feelings about getting unsolicited political texts (82%) than they do about other types of unwanted texts (74%). In fact, survey company Morning Consult found that more than 4 out of 5 consumers express frustration with receiving unsolicited political messages, and that feeling grew even stronger since the last presidential election—up from 68% in 2020. 90% of Democrats and 85% of Republicans believe that political campaigns should be required to get consent before sending you messages.

Consumers have legitimate expectations about what does, and does not, constitute consent to get political texts.  For example, two-thirds of consumers agreed:

• Voting for a certain candidate does not mean that they consent to get texts from that candidate
• Donating to a certain candidate does not mean that they consent to get texts from that candidate
• Consenting to texts from one candidate does not mean that they consent to get texts from another candidate

Campaigns should get clear consumer consent to send text messages, as CTIA’s Messaging Principles and Best Practices suggests. In addition to communicating only with consumers who have opted-in, senders should:

• Clearly identify themselves
• Tell consumers how to opt-out, by replying “STOP,” for example
• Honor those opt-out requests
• Establish clear privacy and security policies and practices

These best practices are designed to apply the same standards and same consumer protections regardless of whether the sender or the consumer is an airline or a bank, a hospital or a college, or a campaign.

To start, campaigns must be registered with the necessary federal, state, tribal and/or local election officials.

Campaigns should evaluate what kind of text message they want to send and seek to register their campaign with the relevant registry. Registering your campaign requires providing verifiable information about the organization and intentions around messaging consumers. Campaigns can choose from a variety of options in a competitive messaging marketplace including:

• Short Code Registry: Short codes are five-or-six digit numbers that companies and organizations can register to use to contact consumers.
• The Campaign Registry: Registers 10-digit long codes (10DLC), or what look like traditional 10-digit phone numbers, to brands and campaigns.

Many brands and campaigns choose to work with a campaign service provider (CSP) to develop and send their text messages and/or a direct connect aggregator (DCA) to facilitate the connection with wireless providers so they can smoothly send text messages.

There are many ways for political message senders to solicit and obtain a voter’s consent to receive text messages. For example, as described in CTIA’s Messaging Principles and Best Practices, one of the best ways to seek consent is to invite a consumer to check a box next to language that says “I agree to receive text messages from this campaign” alongside a clear and conspicuous description of the campaign and the types of messages the consumer can expect to receive if they opt-in. This can be provided online, on a form, or through other mechanisms that enable message senders to document consumers’ consent as described in the Messaging Principles.

Some other examples of reasonable consent mechanisms, when accompanied by appropriate consumer disclosures, include, but are not limited to:

• Entering a telephone number through a website
• Clicking a button on a mobile webpage
• Sending a message from the consumer’s mobile device that contains a keyword
• Initiating the text message exchange in which the message replies to the consumer only with responsive information
• Signing up at a point-of-sale or other message sender on-site location
• Opting-in over the phone using interactive voice response technology

When collecting consent, message senders should display clear and conspicuous disclosures (“calls to action”) about the type and purpose of the messaging the consumer will receive. As described in CTIA’s Messaging Principles and Best Practices, message senders should obtain proper consumer consent for each messaging campaign supported.

By giving consent to one message sender, a consumer does not expect their telephone number to be used by another message sender through sale, lease, transfer, or other sharing of recipient lists.

Consumers have legitimate expectations about what does and does not constitute consent to receive political texts. For example, two-thirds of consumers agreed:

• Voting for a certain candidate does not mean that they consent to receive texts from that candidate
• Donating to a certain candidate does not mean that they consent to receive texts from that candidate
• Consenting to texts from one candidate does not mean that they consent to receive texts from another candidate

Yes. If a person is acting on behalf of a campaign, whether they are texting one voter or thousands of voters with a single message, they are considered a non-consumer sender (not a person-to-person sender), and they should obtain consent from the constituents they desire to speak with in order to text them. To learn more about the distinction between non-consumer and person-to-person senders, visit CTIA’s Messaging Principles & Best Practices.

When collecting consent, message senders should display clear and conspicuous disclosures about the type and purpose of the messaging the consumer will receive. As described in CTIA’s Messaging Principles and Best Practices, message senders should obtain proper consumer consent for each messaging campaign supported. An appropriate disclosure (also known as a “call-to-action”) should include:

• The program or product description. In the case of a political campaign, this would include the name of the campaign/candidate and identifying details about the type or nature of communications that will be sent to the constituent via text message.
• The specific identity of the organization or individual being represented. Again for a campaign, this would include the name of the campaign organization, the name of the candidate, and if the texts are being sent by a specific individual in the campaign, their name as well.
• Clear and conspicuous language about how opting in to receive text messages works, clear mechanisms for opting out, and any applicable privacy policy. Calls-to-action and subsequent messaging should not contain any deceptive language and opt-in details should not be obscured in terms and conditions or privacy policies.
• How to opt-out of messaging. This can include a notice that consumers can opt-out anytime by replying “STOP” or similar terms.

Message senders should acknowledge and respect consumers’ opt-out requests. Further, message senders should:

• Ensure that consumers have the ability to opt-out of receiving messages at any time
• Support multiple mechanisms of opt-out—certainly by text message and additionally by phone call or email
• Explain what words result in an opt-out—traditionally message recipients can reply “STOP” to opt-out of unwanted message
• Maintain and update recipient lists by processing deactivation/opt-out files regularly (e.g., daily)

There are processes and protections in place throughout the messaging ecosystem to make sure wanted messages go through, while suspicious or unsolicited ones do not. To help make sure your messages go through you should:

• Obtain opt-in consent
• Register your campaign—with federal and state election officials, as well as with text message registries like the Short Code Registry, The Campaign Registry, or other organizations
• Avoid sending unwanted texts

If you haven’t obtained consumer consent to send texts, have not registered your campaign, and are sending text messages anyway, you may be blocked to protect consumers. If you have questions, reach out to the company supporting your text message campaigns.

No. The TCPA applies to all calls and texts that are made with an autodialer or prerecorded voice, including political calls and texts. That means message senders should get consent before texting consumers. Separate from the TCPA but guided by consent principles, CTIA’s Messaging Principles and Best Practices make clear that all non-consumer message senders, including political campaigns, should get consent before sending texts.

If you provide your phone number to a potential message sender, make sure you know what type of communication you are opting into. If you receive a text that seems legitimate, but you do not want, you can simply respond “STOP” to opt-out of getting any more texts. If you receive an unexpected or suspicious text, do not click any links. If you receive a text that looks suspicious, you should forward the message to 7726 (SPAM)—here are instructions for iPhone and Android.

Here are some additional tips to help you keep control over your texts:

• Click “Delete and Report Junk” and Report spam messages to Apple for iPhone users and Google for Android users. Click the links to learn how.
• Depending on your device, you may also be able to block the sender. Check with your cellphone manufacturer (Apple, Samsung) to learn more.
• You can also report spam messages by filing a complaint with the FTC or FCC.
• Do not click on text or email links in unwanted texts from sources you don’t know.
• To learn more about how to protect yourself from spam texts, watch our How to Stop Spam Text Messages video and visit the Consumer Resources tab.

A recent survey by Morning Consult found that 4 in 5 Americans want the whole wireless industry to do as much as they can to help protect consumers from unwanted text messages. Combatting spam is a team effort, involving wireless providers, aggregators, registrars, and many other companies. The wireless industry protects consumers from spam texts by:

• Registering and vetting message senders
• Asking message senders to obtain consent before texting consumers and offering a means for consumers to opt-out
• Designing the Messaging Security Best Practices to give companies involved in text messaging the tools and security frameworks to protect consumers from spam
• Analyzing and blocking spam texts using a variety of sophisticated tools, including spam filters, algorithms, and blocking techniques that help identify and respond to unwanted, illegal, or harmful messages

Learn more about the wireless industry’s efforts to fight spam texts at https://fightingspam.ctia.org/