The Federal Communications Commission today passed its first rules aimed at combating the problem of scam text messages being sent to consumers, which is becoming more and more prevalent. Mobile service providers will be required by the new regulations to prohibit specific robotext communications that are highly likely to be illegal. With today’s action, the Commission is also looking for feedback on other regulatory measures it can take to safeguard consumers from fraudulent robotexts.

According to the Report and Order adopted today, text messages that appear to be sent by numbers that are not likely to send text messages must be blocked. This includes erroneous, unused, or unallocated numbers. Also, it contains the subscriber’s other numbers.

The establishment of a point of contact for text senders by each mobile wireless provider, or the requirement that providers ask their aggregator partners or blocking contractors to do so, is required under a second rule. This allows senders to find out which texts have been prohibited.

If a marketer can’t call you, they shouldn’t be able to text you either. The FCC is asking for public input on other measures it can take to end text message spam. These include closing the “lead generator loophole,” which allows marketers to use one consumer’s consent to deliver robocalls and texts from thousands of other businesses and expanding the Do-Not-Call Registry protections to include text messaging.

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