From talking fridges to iPhones, our experts are here to help make the world a little less complicated.
Automated messages have emerged as a major part of political outreach efforts in the digital age. Text messages, in particular, have become a potent tool for campaign fundraising. Speaking with Time magazine, Alex Quilici, CEO of call-blocking company YouMail, explained that texts are more cost-effective than physical mail or phone calls, and that they have a tendency to encourage more engagement. This is especially true for young people, he added, who are more likely to respond to texts from numbers they don't recognize, than to calls.
From talking fridges to iPhones, our experts are here to help make the world a little less complicated.
The Federal Communications Commission, aka the FCC, requires that these political fundraising entities get your consent for automated messaging, which also means they're required to let you opt out at will.
Most texts you get for political fundraising purposes will include some sort of instructions on how to make the messages stop (commonly by texting "STOP" back at them). It's also possible to try to avoid these messages from the start, with fundraising companies like ActBlue and WinRed noting that it's optional to add your phone number on their forms.
Adding your email, however, usually isn't optional. To opt out of further fundraising emails, you should be able to go to the bottom of any message you receive and find a link that lets you unsubscribe from the current mailing list. You might have to do this a few times across different fundraising messages, because your information might've ended up on multiple lists used by fundraising operations.
If you suspect that an email you've received is not a run-of-the-mill annoying fundraising prompt but instead a phishing scheme in disguise, you should do two things: First, under no circumstances click through their links or give them any information about yourself. Second, forward the message to the Anti-Phishing Working Group at reportphishing@apwg.org.
For more, find out what each major presidential candidate has said about the child tax credit.
Source: cnet.com