Glaring Problems With Political Campaign Messaging
As the volume and tenor of political debate ramps up in preparation for the 2024 elections, little attention is being paid to major flaws in the way that campaigns and special interests are allowed to communicate with the public through telephone text messages.
The reach and importance of such texts are immense. Hundreds of millions of political appeals of all stripes are being transmitted every month to handheld devices, with “open rates” typically approaching 98 percent.
The political and pro-consumer groups I am affiliated with frequently use texting to help keep our most ardent supporters engaged and aware. Tens of thousands of Americans enthusiastically respond to our calls and messages, which keep them informed and allow them to coalesce for the greater good.
However, a few bad actors and individuals riding the wave of significant upticks in spam texts, misrepresentation, and fundraising scams perpetuated through text campaigns are using this coalition tactic inappropriately and undermining its efficacy for the nation’s political, pro-consumer, and minority rights advocacy groups.
While the Federal Communications Commission has the authority to block inappropriate texting, it has been incredibly slow to act. A notice of proposed rulemaking published in February has yet to produce any real regulations. And so, the policing of this riotous marketplace has been left to the telephone industry, which, given the immense profits generated by texting, has erected what can only be seen as a highly flawed system of control.
The big phone companies have handed off the task of approving text-message campaigns to an organization called The Campaign Registry (TCR). Although this entity is supposed to act as a neutral, disinterested guardian, it was created by mostly foreign investors, and its parent company, the Italian communications conglomerate Kaleyra, is presently in the process of being acquired by a company in India. Meanwhile, the registry works hand-in-glove with a privately-held contracting firm called Aegis Mobile LLC, which does most of TCR’s message vetting.
Aegis Mobile itself can hardly be considered a neutral player. Jeffrey W. Goettman, a wealthy investor and Trump-appointed chief operating officer of the Export-Import Bank who is now the chief of staff to conservative Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, is its former investor and chairman. He is a frequent donor to Republican candidates – totaling $15,860 since 2000 – including two donations to WinRed, the party’s grassroots fundraising platform, which is heavily involved in text messaging.
WinRed itself has been accused of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and has been under investigation by state attorneys general for its subscription practices. While Goettman’s current involvement in Aegis Mobile’s operations is unclear, his state-mandated financial disclosures indicate he continues to draw a large income (exceeding $250,000 in 2022 and 2023) from the company, even while acting as Youngkin’s top executive. His income from Aegis Mobile might exceed his actual state employee pay.
This isn’t a theoretical conflict. Youngkin frequently utilizes the tactic of political text messaging, and Goettman was his campaign’s former policy director. The Virginia legislature recently created a commission to examine whether and how privately-paid, politically potent text messages should be permitted to proliferate, and Youngkin is going to have a say on that matter.
Aegis Mobile, meanwhile, owns a company that profits directly from text messaging. And in a separate matter involving the contracted vetting by Aegis Mobile of requests by third parties for Verizon’s customer location data, the FCC has called attention to “the inadequacy of the Aegis review systems,” questioning the firm’s veracity.
These conflicts of interest have implications not just for Virginia but for the rest of the country at a time of rising political divisions and widespread disinformation. So, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that they are worrying many interest groups.
The NAACP, the National Black Justice Coalition, Planned Parenthood, and many other civil rights and minority advocacy organizations signed a coalition letter opposing this The Campaign Registry-Aegis Mobile set-up, urging the Biden administration to act against it. Understandably so. The conflicts of interest they present are concerning to these groups because of how often they find themselves positioned against the stated values of the current Virginia governor.
We have never received any indication that Youngkin has had any malicious intent or acted to interfere with our campaigns. That said, we remain concerned about opportunities for inappropriate controls over our nation’s campaign dialogue that come from any vested political interest — Democratic or Republican — or that are filtered through a “campaign registry” prism that’s owned by foreign investors.
The existence of the little-publicized Goettman-Aegis Mobile nexus highlights the risks of not paying close attention to the possibility of this dialogue becoming subverted. Anyone, or any firm, with links to partisan politicking should immediately be separated from any message vetting process.
It’s time for the FCC to step into the fray to require that the vetting of text messages be separated from its current politically-connected stewards and to ensure that the honesty and neutrality of this vital mode of communication becomes adequately protected.
Mark Schauer, a former Democratic Member of Congress from Michigan, is the Vice President of Winning Connections, an award-winning firm mobilizing voters and constituents to win elections and impact legislation.
