FCC Chair Rosenworcel Proposes New Regulations to Reduce Scams in Text Messages

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a new set of rules to reduce the increasing scams in text messages. Once the commissioners approve these in March, network providers will have to block robotexts that are likely illegal.

Proposing New Regulations

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposed the first regulations to block robotext messages that are highly likely illegal in order to protect consumers from scams. CNET reported that this includes numbers that appear to be invalid, unallocated, or unused, as well as those claimed by government agencies and other well-known entities.

As per the chair, this would be the first volley in the agency's effort to attack scam texts. She described these text messages to be illegal and no consumer would want to receive them."We are going to keep at it and develop more ways to take on this growing consumer threat," the chair noted.

The proposed regulations will be voted on by the agency's commissions at the next monthly meeting on March 16th. If this will be approved, the regulations will take effect after they were published in the Federal Register. Providers would have to block texts from entities that the FCC flags for sending illegal messages through texts.

Do Not Call Registry

Additionally, the proposed regulations state that providers will be needing to expand National Do Not Call Registry protections to include texts in an effort to protect consumers from receiving unwanted messages.

Rosenworcel stated that these scam robotexts target all people who are utilizing text messages. From missing packages and confirmation of payment to links to websites and wrong number messages. All of us could be fooled by this as it is part of our everyday lives.

"I'm asking my colleagues to join me in adopting the first FCC rules to focus on shutting down scam texts. But we're not stopping here. Because we are going to keep at it and develop more ways to take on this growing consumer threat," she added.

FCC's Efforts

The proposal of new regulations for text message scams comes after FCC's measures that have been taken to stamp out robocalls. Engadget reported that both issues will be part of the monthly meetings, along with the other items in the proposed frameworks.

This includes the increased collaboration between terrestrial mobile network operators and satellite service providers in order to boost pone services in lacking areas. This could be useful when it comes to life-or-death situations that have no access to network coverage.

The Federal Communications Commission has been aware of this issue since last year. Last July 2022, they issued a major warning for scam robotexts, as the increasing cases became concerning.

Since this type of scam does not rely on flaws regarding the smartphone itself, the agency stated that the best thing that people can do is to avoid conversing through these messages.