Pallone Introduces Comprehensive Legislation to Curb Onslaught of Annoying and Abusive Robocalls

Today, Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) introduced the Do Not Disturb Act, comprehensive legislation to protect consumers from the bombardment of dangerous and unwanted calls and texts that have been exacerbated by the Supreme Court’s decision in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid which undermined anti-robocall consumer protections. The legislation was introduced by Pallone and cosponsored by Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Darren Soto (D-FL), and Eric Sorensen (D-IL), who are each leading specific provisions in the legislation.

“Every American with a phone is facing a never ending, deluge of robocalls and texts — at this point, it’s downright harassment,” Pallone said. “As technology evolves, illegal robocallers are finding new ways to scam Americans and abuse the loopholes created by the Supreme Court’s recent decision to undermine one of the foundations of anti-robocall protections. Unfortunately, we know these scammers often target older Americans who are especially vulnerable victims to these fraudsters’ scams.

“Today I’m introducing legislation that brings anti-robocall protections into the 21st century and ensures illegal robocallers and scam artists can’t exploit new loopholes even as technology continues to evolve,” Pallone continued. “This comprehensive legislation is long overdue to protect Americans from these annoying calls and texts, and I look forward to the hard work ahead to see it across the finish line and signed into law.”

In 2021, the Supreme Court ruling in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid narrowed the definition of auto-dialer technology, excluding the bulk of robocalls taking place today from the commonsense consumer protections included in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

The Do Not Disturb Act would help close the loopholes created by the Supreme Court and build on existing consumer protections by:

Expanding Anti-Robocall Protections and Closing Loopholes that Scammers Exploit — The bill would define robocalls to encompass a range of robocall technology not covered under current law, including text messages, and ensure wide-ranging protections for consumers even as call and text message technology evolves.

Additionally, the bill would close loopholes used by scammers to circumvent current consumer protections and equip the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with more tools to stop the menace of robocalls, take illegal calls off network, go after scammers, and enforce civil penalties.

Combating Use of Artificial Intelligence for Scams — Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has been used by illegal robocallers to specifically target older Americans, in some cases, using AI technology to mimic the voices of family members asking for money to scam older Americans out of their life savings.

This bill would require disclosure of the use of AI to emulate human interaction over text or phone and would double penalties for any robocall violations of the TCPA or Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) when using AI to impersonate someone. 

Alleviating the Cost of Robocall Blocking Technology for Consumers — The bill would require network service providers to offer robocall detection and blocking services at no additional cost to customers instead of charging a premium for the service. Providers would be required to give customers the ability to block robocalls that are highly likely to be illegal.

Pallone previously introduced and led passage of the Pallone-Thune TRACED Act, landmark robocall legislation that was signed into law in 2019. The TRACED Act helps to mitigate unwanted and abusive calls by, among other things, requiring phone service providers to authenticate callers, strengthening caller identification, and allowing consumers to block calls from numbers that cannot be verified.  

Bill text is available HERE.

A section-by-section is available HERE.

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