Blocking Robocalls? Yay! Accidentally Blocking Wanted Calls by Consumers? Nay!

Blocking Robocalls? Yay! Accidentally Blocking Wanted Calls by Consumers? Nay!

In an effort to fight robocalls, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on June 6 approved a rule giving carriers authority to block unlawful robocalls and to automatically enroll customers in call blocking programs of the various carriers. Carriers will not be authorized to take action until the final version of the rule is released by the FCC, which is anticipated to happen sometime within the next week. Calls are not being blocked at this moment and it remains to be seen when that process will actually begin.

Furthermore, there will be a public comment period seeking input on other details about the new rule that will extend throughout the rest of the summer. The FCC will consider comments during that time, leaving open the possibility that the details of the ruling will continue to evolve. It would not be surprising if lawsuits were filed to challenge the ruling and further delay implementation.

From Twilio’s point of view, the ruling understandably raises the concern that calls from our customers that are legal and wanted by consumers could get blocked. Throughout this process, Twilio’s number one priority is to make sure that consumers continue to receive calls they want and that our customers are not inhibited from engaging their own customers.

Twillio’s customers include health care providers, schools, banks and travel-related companies, all of whom use automated calls to contact consumers for services that consumers want. In addition, Twilio’s customers also include many nonprofits that support services for senior citizens and low income families, combat domestic violence, and provide job placement services, in addition to enabling crisis communications outreach during emergency situations.

To ensure that consumers continue to receive lawful and wanted communications – and thereby protect the business interests of our customer base – Twilio is actively advocating for the following conditions:

• Consumers should be alerted in clear, direct, personal communications that they have been enrolled in any call blocking program. Notice should not be hidden or obfuscated, such as buried in the fine print of their monthly bill. It should be visible and easily identifiable.
• Consumers should be able to opt out of enrollment in any call blocking programs. Availability, access, and execution of the process should be clear, visible and simple to accomplish by the consumer.
• Consumers should have regular and simple access to the database of calls that are being blocked from their phone. The numbers should be accompanied by the name of the individual, business or organization associated with the phone number so that the consumers can have full knowledge about who tried to call them.
• Consumers should then be able to follow an easy, simple process for them to choose what calls to allow. Carriers should ensure the calls go through on an automated basis; consumers should not be burdened with having to manually update the contact list on their phone as the only means for the calls to come through.
• There should be a well-defined process for consumers, businesses and organizations to file complaints – both with government agencies and the carriers – if lawful and wanted calls are being blocked. The process should be public and transparent and should result in the reinstatement of these calls in a timely manner.
• A process should be put into place to provide notification to businesses and organizations whose calls have been blocked. The process should be proactive and transparent on why their calls are not going through, along with a means to appeal by the businesses and organizations.
• The analytics program called for by the FCC to be used by carriers should ensure the free flow of lawful and wanted calls to be received by consumers from our customers. Application of any bocking rules must be applied on a competitive- and technology-neutral basis.
• Consumers deem many types of calls as important or critical. Establishing a more robust critical call list should be broadened to include calls from schools, doctors, local governments, alarm companies, fraud and weather alerts, recall centers, hospitals, and flight alerts.

Twilio supports the FCC’s goal of combating unlawful robocalls. Twilio is an active participant in the fight against unlawful robocalls. For example, Twilio has built multiple safeguards preventing unlawful robocalls into or coming from its platform, including by billing by the minute which thwarts the economics of robocalls; disabling calls to high-fraud destinations that are rarely used for legitimate use-cases; not allowing customers to use a number as “caller ID” if the customer cannot confirm ownership of that number; setting default throughput limits so that a customer cannot immediately place a high volume of calls; and using artificial intelligence and data analytics to identify risk vectors, monitor trends, and respond to complaints. Twilio also is a longtime partner of Nomorobo, which has helped consumers block more than 1 billion robocalls.

We look forward to working with the agency and stakeholders in the communications industry to make sure the implementation of this rule ensures that the legal calls generated by our customers are protected and are continued to be received by consumers.

Rebecca Murphy Thompson is Head of Communications Policy, Twilio Global Public Policy and Government Affairs