WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to review Indiana’s anti-robocall law. A lower court upheld the robocall ban in January and the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case means the law will stay in place.
The law prohibits companies from making pre-recorded calls to peoples’ phones without their consent. A company called Patriotic Veterans, Inc. had been seeking to carve out an exception from the robocall ban for political messages. The company argued that the anti-robocall statute violated the First Amendment.
The law permits campaigns and political groups to make only traditional live calls, and restricts the use of technology that automatically dials residential phone numbers and plays pre-recorded messages, with few exceptions.
In a press release, the Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill’s office said they received 15,000 complaints about unwanted calls last year, many of which included robocalls.
The AG’s office also stated that the penalty for violation of the Auto Dialer law includes fines up to $5,000 per call.
