Viewer finds political text messages annoying. What can you do?

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – A text message-blocking app estimates politicians sent 253 million political text messages in the last year. So basically… if you have a cell phone. You’ve seen these messages. Karen says, “I’m getting hammered with political texts and it’s driving me crazy. Is there anything I can do to stop this harassment?”

You can register your phone number on the Do Not Call List. But it won’t help. Politicians are not required to follow the Do Not Call List by law.

If you’re receiving text messages that you don’t want, report the sender by forwarding the texts to 7726. That spells out “SPAM.” KY3 did that with several messages. The provider responded by writing, “Thanks for providing us with the content of an unwanted message. Now, reply with the sender’s phone number.”

Just enter the number. Now, you’ve registered a complaint with your phone company.

The next step is to reply STOP to the original message. Campaigns should honor opt-out requests if you reply “STOP.”

Then, you can delete and block the number.

You can also get a call-blocking app. The The FCC has several on a list.

Returning to the viewer’s question, “Is there anything I can do to stop this harassment?”

The answer is yes. There are 3 things you can do. But like weeds, these messages will keep popping up with new numbers. So, you may need to repeat the process over and over through November.

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