(NewsNation) — Millions of Americans are being bombarded with political robotexts from campaigns asking for donations or asking for your vote.
The call-blocking service Robo Killer estimates Americans nationwide received 253 million political robotexts and more than 1 million robocalls last December alone.
Political text outreach service Rumble Up is predicting the total number of political messages sent through Election Day could reach around 25 billion. So what can you do to try to fight back against that onslaught?
“You have a bunch of options. You’re going to have to decide what makes the most sense for you,” cybersecurity expert Dave Hatter told “NewsNation Now.”
“If you see something and it’s obviously fake, right? You can forward it to 776, which is a number set up by the FCC to specifically report things that seem bogus,” he said.
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While replying “stop” is an option usually available to most cell users, Hatter recommends avoiding that approach.
“My advice to people is to not do that unless you know for sure you’re replying to a legitimate person at the other end because you’re just guaranteeing they’re going to sell [your number] to other folks,” he said.
Hatter says purchasing a new cell number is not the ideal solution to avoid political text messages.
“They’re buying these phone numbers from legitimate sources, data brokers,” he added. “They’re getting them from data leaks. So yeah, even if you switch to a new phone, they’re probably eventually going to find you.”
