Somebody please stop the spam texts

After moving away from Texas, Nathan Pilkenton still receives frequent political texts aimed at the state’s voters, from campaigns and parties across the spectrum. He also gets a growing stream of commercial messages, including offers that sound personal but turn out to be automated campaigns. These intrusions matter because texting is his most important channel for family, friends, and security codes; spam crowds out messages he wants to notice. Reporting unwanted texts through Apple’s Messages app has not stopped them from arriving or reliably sent them to its Spam folder.

Pilkenton’s deeper objection is to replying STOP. Although opting out may reduce messages from a sender, doing so feels like accepting that mass marketers and political campaigns are entitled to reach him unless he individually objects. He argues that recipients should not bear the burden of repeatedly opting out, and asks Apple to improve spam filtering - for example, by letting users mark a message as spam and use it as a pattern for identifying similar texts. He has also found a “Delete and Stop” option, but it appears separate from “Delete and Report Spam,” and reporting has not prevented repeated messages from a campaign. The frustration extends beyond texts to persistent marketing emails and spam calls, leaving him doubtful that current opt-out systems can keep unwanted solicitations at bay.