Cutting through campaign spam

It can feel like a never-ending flood: flyers, texts, phone calls, and emails all asking for money to fund political candidates and causes. My more than 17,000 unread emails and texts are mostly from various political action committees telling me that President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and former Vice President Kamala Harris are eagerly awaiting my opinion and my minimum $5 donation. A brick at Mar-a-Lago could have my name engraved on it, and former presidential hopeful Nikki Haley needs me to know she supports Sen. Susan Collins for reelection and I should, too.

But the barrage of politically themed texts asking for money could get reined in this fall.

In September, Apple rolled out an iOS 26 update for iPhone that hides suspected spam in a folder instead of notifying the phone owner. Campaign strategists aren’t thrilled about this update: A National Republican Senatorial Committee memo called on fundraisers to lobby against the “aggressive message filtering.”

“NRSC alone could see a $25M+ revenue hit,” the memo read. “Since 70% of small dollar donations come via text, and iPhones make up 60% of U.S. mobile devices, the macro effect could be over $500M in lost GOP revenue.”

Americans received roughly 15 billion political texts in 2022, according to Robokiller, a call blocking service. YouMail, a political text and robocall tracking company, reported that Republicans used text campaigns twice as often as Democrats in 2024. But most users would prefer hiding those types of messages for good. Their angst stems from a deeper exhaustion with “dark patterns”—unethical but legal ways of tricking political donors into taking actions they normally wouldn’t.

“The No. 1 metric is always the open rate,” Republican campaign strategist and former fundraising email writer Jacob Perry told me. “That’s how they’re valued, and that was always my specialty—writing good subject lines. Nothing matters if you don’t read the email.”

Conventional marketing wisdom says that a 15-20% email open rate is excellent. Text messages have a 90-98% open rate. A 2017 marketing study found that text messages reported six to eight times higher engagement rates in retail. Political consultants quickly jumped on board and flooded potential and active voters with texts phrased in candidates’ first-person voices.

Perry worked as a strategist for Prosper Group, a consulting company, in 2010—the height of the switch from mail-in campaign flyers to emails. His job: writing snappy, attention-grabbing email headlines to ensure the open rate remained high. But he regrets the industry­wide spiral into heightened rhetoric, scare tactics, and a means-­justifies-the-end approach to campaign fundraising language that continues today.

“‘President Trump is going to see your name on this list,’ or, ‘There’s a 10-to-1 match on your donations,’ or whatever nonsense that these people come up with,” Perry said, reading off common email and text notifications. “It’s blatantly shady, but it works, which maybe is an indictment on our society.”

British researcher Harry Brignull coined the term “dark patterns” to describe these deceptive practices: hard-to-find exit buttons, an easy online sign-up but a requirement to call a phone number to cancel a subscription, or an automatically checked box to set up a recurring charge. Political dark patterns include data tracking, design options that force a donation before seeing the full webpage, and a ramping up of extreme rhetoric to get a donor emotionally involved.

“I thought it was bad when I was in office,” former Rep. Reid Ribble, R-Wis., told me. Ribble, who served from 2011 to 2017, sometimes used consultants to run online fundraising campaigns. He said the rhetoric was frustrating, and fees ate up much of the donation anyway. “They’ve discovered that by making someone feel like they’re a victim or could be victimized, they can inspire them to do something to defend themselves. And if you would just give your $50 to $500, you’re contributing to saving American democracy.”

Last year, a CNN investigation found that hundreds of elderly people had fallen for dark patterns that drained their bank accounts. One woman had no idea she was signed up for monthly donations through ActBlue, a nonprofit fundraising arm for Democrats. Richard Benjamin, 81, thought he was personally communicating with then-candidate Donald Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr. He gave around $80,000 to the campaign. Through Federal Trade Commission complaints, sometimes family members could recover a portion of the funds. The FTC called prechecked boxes a “trick” and a “psychological tactic,” but it does not have jurisdiction to ban them.

Furthermore, while the FTC requires a campaign to abide by a “stop” text response, it does not regulate where the phone number goes after Election Day. Lists of voters sourced from registration rolls get passed on to political action committees, which aren’t subject to the National Do Not Call Registry. Even a voter who texts “stop” can have his number recycled next election.

“Campaigns are the bedrock of our democracy,” said Daniel Jellins, a former staff attorney at the Communications & Technology Law Clinic at Georgetown University. “If we are manipulating donors who are trying to use their voices in elections by giving money to a campaign that they support, then we are tampering with that bedrock.”

But the First Amendment also protects the right of campaigns to say what they want, even in political ads. While federal regulations ban donations from foreign nationals, limit campaign gifts from government employees, and require campaigns to disclose large donations, no laws restrict how campaigns can ask for money. It could be a slippery slope if the government begins telling campaigns in what manner and how often they should contact prospective donors. Conservative fundraisers worry the iPhone update allows Apple to take on a similar policing role.

Dark patterns have drawn attention in Washington, but as of yet, they are unlegislated. In July, Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., reintroduced the Uncheck the Box Act, a bipartisan bill to prevent campaigns from using prechecked boxes in online donation forms for things like recurring payments.

Will an iPhone update turn the tide on shady fundraising? Not necessarily. But it does indicate that companies recognize consumers are fed up.