How to Stop Text Spam

Many Canadian consumers inundated with text spam may wonder how to prevent the spam from ever reaching their phones and wasting their time. Luckily, there are laws in place to protect consumers from text spam.

What is Text Spam?

“Text spam” refers to advertisements sent via text or SMS message to a smart device. The term generally encompasses advertisements sent by text that consumers did not consent to receive; however, sometimes companies use gifts or other offers to lure consumers into agreeing to receive text spam.

Whatever the source, the vast majority of Canadian consumers find text spam annoying and, when consumers are on cell phone plans where they pay per message or for data, a waste of resources.

What Are the Canada Text Spam Laws?

In 2014, Canada enacted Anti-Spam Legislation known as CASL. According to Simple Texting, the goal of the law is to protect Canadians from malware and spam, including text spam, while also supporting the economy.

Under CASL, companies that wish to send advertisements via text messages must obtain consent from the consumers receiving the message. There are two forms of consent: implied and express.

Express consent occurs when the consumer explicitly agrees to receive the text messages from the company. Implied consent refers to situations where the consumer provides their mobile phone number through an existing relationship or publicly discloses that information.

Companies have other obligations under CASL. The text spam they send must contain identification and contact information. In addition, consumers must be provided an option to opt out of or unsubscribe from all spam text messages from the company.

The fines for violating CASL can be steep, up to $1 million each day for individuals or $10 million for a company. Several agencies can file lawsuits against companies for alleged CASL violations. The law also allows individual consumers to initiate a lawsuit against companies for text spam, including American companies.

How to Prevent Text Spam

According to the Times Colonist, although major cell service providers have ways to stop text spam, messages can still get through. One way to prevent text spam is to notify the cell service provider of the message. Consumers can do so by forwarding the text to 7726 with the word “SPAM” in the message.

There are other options for consumers with Apple iOS7 iPhones. Spam texts can be forwarded by holding a finger on the message, then using the forward option.

While forwarding the message may help prevent spam, it is up to the cell service providers to follow up. There are other methods consumers can use to stop text spam.

How to Stop Text Spam

iPhones and other smart devices usually come with a feature that allows the user to block messages and calls from certain numbers. Although this method may not be effective against spammers who do not reveal their phone numbers or use multiple numbers, consumers can try blocking the phone number that is listed as the source of the spam text to help stop the annoying messages.

Generally, it is fairly simple to block a phone number from a smart device; however, consumers who want to go a step further can block all messages that do not originate from a phone number as well. Doing this takes a few extra steps, requiring the consumer to log on to their online account. In addition, consumers may want to ensure that they are not receiving legitimate messages, like appointment reminders, from a provider that does not use a phone number.

Another way to stop being annoyed by spam text, but not stop the messages altogether, is to turn off the notifications for such messages. Consumers with an iPhone running iOS7 or later versions of the software can disable notifications from those not in their contact list, according to the Times Colonist. The alerts feature is located in the settings menu. Consumers need to go to the notification center and select the option that allows them to show alerts only from their contacts. Enabling this feature will ensure that a beep, ding, or vibration does not occur when spam text arrives.

What Text Spam Lawsuits Have Been Filed?

A number of text spam lawsuits have been filed under Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). The first lawsuit was reportedly brought against a Quebec-based ticket broker. According to the lawsuit, the broker sent text spam to consumers without first obtaining consent.

The broker further violated CASL by failing to provide a way for consumers to opt out of the messages or even contact the company. As a result of the lawsuit, the company agreed to pay $100,000 in compensation and institute a compliance program. Consumers who received the text spam messages were provided $10 in rebates by the company.

Have you received text spam? Tell us what happened in the comment section below!

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