Robotext onslaught: Americans are suing campaigns for the incessant texts

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Robotext onslaught

, author of Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios Americans are sick of the constant barrage of robotexts from political campaigns. So they're suing. Staggering stat: Campaigns have already sent 90.5 million texts this election cycle, including some 68 million from Democrats and around 23 million from Republicans, Axios' Lachlan Markay reports from data by RoboKiller, a blocker app. The big picture: Marketing texts have an of 98%, compared with 22% for emails, per TextAnywhere, a U.K. firm. So they've quickly become the way to campaign. What's happening: Plaintiffs are citing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which cracks down on phone solicitation, when building their cases against these campaigns.Texts come multiple times a day, from multiple campaigns in multiple states. And sometimes they're even addressed to deceased relatives because voter lists are so outdated.They've brought lawsuits against campaigns on the left and the right, from Texas to California and beyond. Case in point: Kin Wah Kung of Fremont, California, has filed a civil complaint against the DNC, the Ohio Democratic Party, President Biden's campaign, and Tim Ryan's campaign for senator, WFMJ-TV of Youngstown, Ohio, .Kung claims robotexts have invaded his privacy and drained his phone battery. None of the parties has responded to his suit yet. Flashback: In the past, the and campaigns both settled such robotext lawsuits. The bottom line: The ping on your phone is the new knock on the door. Campaigns might have to dial it back to avoid more lawsuits and more settlements.

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