#MWC24 Highlights Collaborative Efforts to Stop Illegal Robocalls and Messages

On Tuesday, October 8, CTIA hosted the ConnectMobile Forum as part of this year’s Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas. The event brought together stakeholders from the messaging and voice ecosystems to discuss consumer protection efforts and the future of mobile engagement. A key through line from the Forum was the critical importance of continuing collaboration across industry and government to stop both illegal robocalls and illegal messaging.

Below, we recap a few key takeaways we heard from government and industry experts working on the front lines to stop bad actors.

• Consumer trust and consumer protection are key drivers of efforts to stop bad actors. While messaging continues to be the most popular and trusted form of communication, there are still bad actors who are increasingly targeting consumers with illegal messages. And in the voice context, illegal robocall scams have undermined consumer trust and diminished answer rates for legitimate calls to consumers. Given these trends, efforts to maintain and restore trust and protect consumers from scams have been focal points for both industry and government stakeholders.  
• Tremendous collaborative efforts are underway across industry and government to disrupt bad actors. The Forum highlighted a wide range of efforts to protect consumers and maintain and restore trust. For example, CTIA has launched the Secure Messaging Initiative (SMI), which facilitates information sharing among providers and government agencies, and houses technical work focused on identifying and mitigating sources of spam messaging. Industry speakers emphasized the value of SMI, explaining that while their companies have advanced tools to detect and block illegal messages, the information sharing that SMI facilitates is critical to recognizing trends in messaging scams. As another example, CTIA recently announced the launch of Branded Calling ID (BCID), a new industry-led standards-based Rich Call Data (RCD) ecosystem engineered to be secure-by-design and to deliver to consumers trusted, branded calls nationwide for enterprise businesses.
• The complex problems of illegal robocalling and illegal messaging are similar but require distinct “playbooks.” A common theme during the Forum was the similarities – and importantly the key differences – between stopping illegal robocalls and stopping illegal messaging. As Tracy Nayer from the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office made clear: the two communications channels are markedly different, but both are a focus in terms of consumer protection and enforcement efforts across state law enforcement agencies. Kristi Thompson, Chief of the Telecommunications Consumers Division of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, explained that coordination between industry, government, and consumers is key to resolve both threats, which present complex problems with no easy solutions.
• Industry and law enforcement are on the same page, and collaborative efforts are showing success. Government and industry speakers alike noted fundamental alignment between the goals of industry and law enforcement. And their efforts are proving successful at creating friction for bad actors. One speaker noted Marriott’s approach to stop brand impersonation via litigation; others discussed industry know-your-customer best practices and efforts to enhance identity verification and trust with BCID; and still others highlighted how industry is leveraging SMI to ask federal and state legislatures and law enforcement partners to dedicate more specialized resources to pursuing criminal actions against fraudsters. From an enforcement context, speakers highlighted a range of law enforcement collaborations, including across the federal government; among international, federal, and state enforcers; and with industry partners. Across all these initiatives, speakers highlighted that there is plenty of work to do, and collaboration is key to bring effective enforcements.