FCC mandates cell phone carriers to block scam texts and robospam messages

The FCC has adopted new rules to reduce the number of scam texts Americans receive, requiring carriers to block texts from invalid, unallocated, or unused numbers, as well as numbers that the subscriber has self-identified as never sending text messages. The FCC also proposed requiring providers to block texts from entities cited as illegal robotexters and clarifying that Do-Not-Call Registry protections apply to text messaging. The move comes as complaints about scam texts have grown more than 500% from 2015 to 2022, and robotexts/scam texts are more of a threat to consumers than scam calls.