March 5, 2024 — Letter

Commenters representing frequent business texters (including telemarketers) seek to unwind and reduce existing protections fail to recognize that the reason that the text method of communication is currently so valuable is directly related to the protections the Messaging Principles and Best Practices and providers establish for these messages, particularly the control that these protections give consumers over the text messages they receive. If the Commission were to bend to the wishes of these commenters and constrain the current protective measures, text communications would unquestionably follow the sad path of voice calls —people would no longer trust the mechanism and would no longer open and communicate by texts nearly as frequently as they do now. Text messages that consumers want, and need would be lost in a sea of unwanted messages.