{
  "id": 17401728,
  "title": "Here’s why you can’t shake those unhinged political texts",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/31/heres-why-you-cant-shake-those-unhinged-political-texts",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-31T12:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Verge",
    "slug": "the-verge",
    "url": "https://www.theverge.com/policy/1023899/political-texts-midterm-elections"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Political texts have become a common occurrence in the lead-up to the US midterm elections on Tuesday. The sheer volume of these messages is staggering, with estimates ranging from 25 billion to 30 billion messages sent this year alone. Even if you haven't made a political donation, you might still be receiving these texts. One prominent example is a message from James Talarico, urging recipients to donate just $1. Other messages include requests for announcements and reminders to vote.\n\nThe source of these political texts is primarily driven by call-blocking company Robokiller, which found that 15 billion political texts were sent in 2022. This surge in messaging is partly due to a Supreme Court decision from the previous year, which made it easier to send mass calls and texts without consent. Alex Quilici, CEO of spam protection service YouMail, expects this year's volume to be about the same or slightly higher than in 2024.\n\nWhile there is some good news, such as the fact that political calls and texts are exempt from the do-not-call-list rules, the overall situation remains concerning. PIRG consumer watchdog director Teresa Murray explains that the bad news is the lack of regulation, while the good news is that the election will soon be over, and people may not receive any more texts or calls.\n\nHowever, there are still steps consumers can take to manage the influx of these messages. Simply sending \"stop\" or blocking and reporting the messages as spam can notify your service provider of a likely spam number. Yet, this measure is unlikely to have an immediate impact on the volume of messages. If enough people report the same number, the provider may begin to block it or label it as spam.\n\nAnother approach is to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission or your state attorney general if you believe a number is using an autodialer without your consent. Additionally, it is crucial not to click any links from unknown numbers, as they may contain scams. Campaigns obtain your information through data brokers that collect and sell data from various sources, such as public voter rolls, online behavior observed by advertising web trackers, and loyalty programs. These data brokers then collate this information to infer your behavior, potentially leading to outdated or erroneous data.\n\nConsumer privacy advocate Sara Geoghegan expresses frustration over the unregulated ecosystem that processes this information, which can lead to errors, inaccuracies, and lack of privacy impact assessments. She emphasizes that the companies trading in our sensitive information should prioritize stopping harmful surveillance and technologies, rather than engaging in them.\n\nThe long-term solution to minimize these spam messages involves limiting how frequently we share our phone numbers, both online and otherwise. Despite the annoyance caused by these messages, there is a risk that they may deter people from engaging in the civic process altogether.",
  "summary": "\"Its James Talarico. Can you please please please please pretty pretty please rush in even just $1?\" \"Who's working to elect James Talarico? Marxists.\" \"Wow! Wow! Wow! Mark Kelly just made a HUGE announcement!\" \"We asked Ben Verlander, MLB analyst and former Tigers prospect, to record a quick video about the election this Tuesday, November […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}