Federal Communications Commission FCC 24-XX STATEMENT OF CHAIRWOMAN JESSICA ROSENWORCEL Re: Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, CG Docket No. 02-278, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (February 15, 2024) Every week, we are looking for news way to quash junk robocalls and robotexts. There is good reason for this. They are awful, they are annoying, and they are eroding trust in our communications networks. Because the bad actors behind them won’t stop, neither will we. That is why today we update our rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to make clear consumers have the right to choose what calls and texts they receive. We do this because no consumer should be forced to jump through hoops or say special magic words to stop this junk from reaching them and those who send this nonsense need to honor your request. Last week, we also took action to stop the newest form of unwanted communications—robocalls using Artificial Intelligence voice-cloning technology. We made clear that restrictions on the use of “artificial or prerecorded voice” in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act apply to calls that use AI to simulate a human voice. That means when these calls show up, State Attorneys General can go after those responsible and hold them accountable. In fact, 26 State Attorneys General are already on record supporting this approach. One of them, the State Attorney General of New Hampshire, worked with us over the last few weeks to take action to address fake voice cloned calls that were designed to confuse residents about when and where to vote during the primary election in the state. He went after the entity responsible for these calls and we went after the provider carrying the suspected illegal robocall traffic. In the not-too-distant future we could all be on the receiving end of these fake calls. The law we have to address this situation is not new, so kudos to Congressman Pallone for introducing the Do Not Disturb Act to update it, but I want to make clear that when we see problems we will act often and act fast because we need to get this junk off the line. Thank you to the Robocall Response Team and staff responsible for this effort, including Aaron Garza, Wes Platt, Mika Savir, Richard Smith, Mark Stone, and Kristi Thornton from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau; Jessica Manuel and Daniel Stepanicich from the Enforcement Bureau; Richard Mallen and Malena Barzilai from the Office of General Counsel; Mark Montano from the Office of Economics and Analytics; and Joycelyn James from the Office of Communications Business Opportunities. 2