Somebody please stop the spam texts

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Relentless spam texts and robocalls are making SMS and phone calls nearly unusable for many people, especially in the U.S., where political campaigns, charities, and scammers blast messages from constantly changing numbers. Commenters describe coping strategies ranging from strict whitelists, filters, and third‑party apps to abandoning phones or switching to alternative messaging platforms, while noting that “STOP” replies and carrier tools only partially help. Many argue the root problem is weak or poorly enforced regulation and misaligned incentives for telcos and political actors, contrasting this with stricter regimes like the EU’s GDPR, and calling for stronger laws or on-device AI filtering to restore trust in these channels.

Scale and impact of spam

  • Many report a sharp increase in spam texts and calls, especially in the last 6–12 months; some get dozens per day, making phones “borderline unusable.”
  • Others see almost no spam, suggesting heavy variability by number history, geography, carrier, and behavior.
  • Political messages and loan/finance offers dominate; some also get resume-site, homeowner-service, and charity-related spam.
  • High volumes cause missed legitimate calls/texts (doctors, deliveries, emergencies) and voicemails filled with robocalls.

Sources and triggers

  • Common triggers: donating to political campaigns or charities, providing a number for voter registration, or posting it on resume/job sites.
  • Data brokers and “canonical lists” get cloned and resold; opting out of one sender doesn’t propagate.
  • Some political tech stacks and televangelist-style fundraising are portrayed as aggressively monetizing elderly donors.

STOP / unsubscribe behavior

  • Mixed views:
    • Some say replying STOP just confirms a live number and worsens spam.
    • Others report STOP/END reliably stops that specific political sender after some effort.
  • Technical dispute over where STOP is honored:
    • Some claim carrier-level blocking.
    • Others describe platform/sender-level suppression (e.g., Twilio, SNS).
  • All agree it only blocks that specific number or campaign; rotating numbers and new entities keep messages coming.

Filtering and technical workarounds

  • Strategies: send unknown callers to voicemail; screen unknown senders; whitelist-only modes; Google Fi “contacts only” settings; iOS/Android spam-filter apps and open‑source SMS filters based on content rules.
  • Downsides: missed medical or service-provider texts; persistent badge/voicemail notifications; setup complexity; per‑number blocking doesn’t scale with SIM farms and rotating numbers.

Law, regulation, and geography

  • In the US, TCPA and FCC rules exist but are seen as weakly enforced, especially after a 2021 Supreme Court narrowing of “autodialer.”
  • Political organizations enjoy exemptions or special treatment, so many anti-spam regimes don’t apply to them.
  • Several posters contrast this with EU/GDPR or some countries (e.g., Germany, NZ, UK) where ID requirements and heavy fines reportedly keep SMS spam rare.

Broader implications

  • Some suggest whitelisted-by-default messaging protocols or local AI spam models as the long‑term fix.
  • Others have abandoned phones, email, or outbound sales entirely, seeing open communication channels as fundamentally broken.