From The Verge:
President Donald Trump's reelection campaign is reportedly fighting cellphone carriers over the right to send Americans unsolicited texts. According to Business Insider, the campaign's lawyers are in active talks with phone companies after a third-party screening tool blocked Trump texts in early July. The campaign alleges that screening the texts amounts to suppressing political speech, while carriers fear allowing them will result in fines for violating anti-spam rules.
The 2020 election has brought a wave of text messages from across the political spectrum, particularly with the pandemic limiting in-person outreach. Many users didn't opt in to these missives, and it's unclear whether they violate federal laws meant to curb unwanted texts. The Trump administration, meanwhile, has imposed steeper fines for spammy and illegal robocalls. That's reportedly put carriers on edge despite Trump's campaign contending it's not illegally automating texts.
Naturally, this whole screw-up is being blamed on Jared Kushner, who's supposed to be mediating the campaign's (and/or the President's?) relationships with the major telecom companies.
Trump reportedly clashes with AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile over spam texts [Adi Robertson / The Verge]
Image: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
