Political campaign-related robocalls and robotexts may have a negative effect on voter participation and are likely to continue for the foreseeable future, telecom and election experts told us. Voters received an unprecedented number of robocalls and robotexts leading up to the 2020 presidential election, and many sought FCC action to curb those that are unwanted and potentially illegal, according to consumer complaints we analyzed (see 2011030050).

Communications Daily presents our Special Report on efforts to confront the perennial problem of robocalls and robotexts, still the most common complaint received by the FCC. We look at efforts at the state, national and international levels to address a problem that many feel is only worsening, with spoofing and alluring links in robotexts now increasingly the methods of choice.

Spoofing remains a particularly acute problem for U.S. residents already besieged by run-of-the-mill robocalls, with close to one in four robocall complaints to the FCC involving some form of spoofing, per our analysis of those complaints. The agency often says robocalls are the biggest source of public complaints it receives. Via a Freedom of Information Act request, we obtained and then reviewed the 446 complaints the agency received on one day, July 1. Per data from the agency's Consumer Complaints Center, it received just shy of 161,000 robocall complaints last year.

Federal and state lawmakers are looking for new ways to tighten robocall restrictions amid an evolving landscape, but experts told us it’s still challenging for governments to keep ahead of bad actors. Some on Capitol Hill are hoping to quickly enact a new anti-robocall package this year, despite a rapidly closing legislative window. State legislators are acting in case federal legislation stalls. Robocall opponents must “press on every front,” said North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein (D) in an interview: He believes stopping bad actors requires state and federal collaboration, and should include industry and other countries.

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision a year ago in Facebook v. Duguid, Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuits continue to be filed, lawyers told us, though at a lower rate than before the court acted. A year ago, a unanimous court sided with Facebook (see 2104010063), favoring a narrow definition of what constitutes an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS). Lawyers also warned that some states, led by Florida, are engaging and that some litigation is shifting to the states.

Unwanted marketing calls cause headaches worldwide, telecom and privacy regulators said. Robocalls have attracted so many complaints that in the past two years or so, the U.K. and Australia signed formal pacts with the U.S. to fight them. It appears, though, that scam calls may be becoming a far bigger concern.

Fewer than two in 10 state utility regulators were people of color (POC) in 2020, while more than one in three were women, showed a Communications Daily analysis of National Utilities Diversity Council (NUDC) data. More than half of the commissions or equivalent bodies had zero POC as members. Six had no women and four had none from either category.

The FCC has struggled for years to retain women, promote African Americans, hire Hispanics, and attract diverse engineers and economists, according to government data. Annual reports to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission show the communications regulator is below the average of the U.S. workforce by such measures. President-elect Joe Biden is expected to make diversity a focus and to name the first permanent female FCC chair. Only one woman, then-Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, has been acting chair.

One lawyer recalled not getting assigned to a project because the attorney making the assignments said “the client didn’t like working with women.” Another woman remembered a senior attorney telling her, “You don’t seem like a lawyer to me.” Other women pointed to articles placing the female co-author’s name after the male co-author’s, although the submission listed the woman first.

In an era of the Me Too movement and Black Lives Matter, running the companies and institutions that dominate the communications universe largely remains a white male affair, according to our analysis of the board membership of major companies, trade and interest groups. Women hold 12% of board seats among broadcasters and 28% among MVPDs and programmers. People of color are harder to find on those boards: 6% at broadcasters, 28% at wireline and wireless operators.