Getting Political Text Messages on Your Phone? Here’s How to Block Them

Election Day 2022 is still a few weeks away, but already political ads are bombarding your Facebook feed, inbox, and SMS inbox. Fortunately, the Federal Communications Commission has an SMS system that works in a similar way to reporting unwanted messages phone calls. This can help you prevent political ads from pouring into your phone.

If you’re wondering how the organization got your number in the first place, that’s why All states allow access to voter records for electoral purposes – so if you have a registered voterYour information is saved.

How to stop unwanted political texts on your phone.

Forward your texts to SPAM and then file a complaint

Do you receive robot texts from political campaigns? You can forward these text messages to SPAM or 7726. This is one of the best options when the sender seems unclear – the FCC recommends not replying to questionable sources.

After doing so, file a complaint with the FCC.

Reply STOP to the sender

Usually when you get a political text message, you can decline. You may see a message in the body like “Reply STOP or unsubscribe to stop receiving messages.” Before you reply, however, make sure it’s a legitimate campaign number and not a scammer. If you reply to a fraudulent message, the sender will be informed that your number is active.

You may need to text STOP multiple times if multiple political campaigners are reaching you on different numbers.

Filter out the text messages

Your smartphone has features that allow you to filter out text messages from unknown senders. While this doesn’t stop unknown senders from texting you, it hides the messages so you don’t have to see them. How to filter out the messages on iPhones and Android phones.

If you are an iPhone user, open the settings app and tap Messages. From here, scroll down and select Filter unknown senders and swipe up the toggle setting. This sorts messages from people not in your contact list into a separate list.

If you are an Android user, open the Messages app settings on your phone and select spam protection. Then select Activate spam protection. Note that the steps to get there may vary depending on which Android phone you’re using.

Contact the campaign that will text you

If all else fails, you can contact the political campaign, who will text you and ask them to remove you from their list. (Often volunteers text you about the campaigns, trying to get your vote.) They should then remove you from their contact list, but if they don’t, you can report them to the FCC.

More information about the election can be found here How to find your polling place this year. Also here is How to find out if you’re registered to vote.