How to deal with those relentless political texts

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Political fundraising texts – they’re the relentless spam hitting your cell phone as the presidential race has heated up.

Earlier this month, we reported that an estimated 100 million political texts are being sent out per week. They’re coming from political PACs, online platforms and sometimes from scammers. And like clockwork, they exploded during the Democratic National Convention last week.

“KAMALA MIRACLE! Dems are FIRED UP,” says one text, promising donors a “6X match” on their money by some mystery donor. Meanwhile, on the GOP side: “999% MATCH… sounds too good to be true but it’s REAL.” Click through, and you land on a site that claims investor George Soros is “mobilizing millions to support radical leftists” and pack school boards. (The Federal Election Commission told WBUR it does not track or regulate these, so who knows if there ever really is a match. There’s no public way to check.)

Andy McLane, a retired private equity executive and longtime Republican-turned-independent in the Trump years, said he can’t understand why he’s still getting these texts.

“I don’t know how to stop them,” he told me. “I can’t get off the list.”

Like most people, McLane finds the texts off-putting. The messages come shouting in all-caps, often peddling hyperbole and half-truths (or outright non-truths). Sometimes they’re cloaked as survey questions that inevitably lead to a fundraising ask.

Alex Quilici, the chief executive of YouMail, a spam-blocking app, says it’s a win for senders even if only a small number of the tens of millions of texts going out inspire donations. But for most people, the bombardment is just annoying.

What can you do?

Text back “STOP.” According to the FCC, legitimate organizations should honor such opt-out requests. Blocking numbers is also an option, but Quilici says spammers often have “a whole bunch of different numbers they use.” So much for blocking them one-by-one. “If an organization has 100 different numbers they text from, that’s not going to do you much good,” he said.

You can also report texts you didn’t ask for to the FCC by forwarding them to 7726 (or “SPAM”).

Lastly, don’t click on those text links. If you want to donate to a candidate or party, go to their website, or to a political organization you know and that’s vetted. And prepare yourself for the continued text barrage through Election Day.