MediaNama’s take:
There are no details in the public domain about the rationale, that the regulator, or the content template registrar may use to restrict businesses/entities like the INC from sending certain types of content under the promotional SMS category. There is also no information, either under the TCCCPR or the content template guidelines, about what constitutes protest-related content and whether the inclusion of such content is grounds for template rejection.
TRAI’s mandate under the 2018 regulations is primarily focused on controlling spam and ensuring user consent for commercial communications. The rejection of political or protest-related content appears to extend beyond this core anti-spam function into content moderation territory. While TRAI seems to have denied this rejection, the situation highlights the opacity surrounding content template rejections.
It is also important to note that while TCCCPR and telecom operators both list mechanisms for customers to complain about commercial communications, businesses appear to have no recourse to raise grievances regarding content template registration requests.
What’s the News:
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) can reject promotional content templates for protest-related content, Indian National Congress (INC) member Praveen Chakravarthy pointed out in a recent post on X. Chakravarthy mentioned that the INC wanted to send a link to its documentary about alleged vote theft in Maharashtra to members of its cadre in the state via SMS. The regulator rejected this request because the content was protest-related. He argued that this is a sign that the government is trying to suppress information about the Maharashtra election fraud.
This situation raises questions about the promotional content message template and header approval processes, the guidelines for such approvals, and whether the telecom regulator is engaging in speech restriction, and if so, under what laws.
TRAI’s regulatory control over promotional content:
Under the 2018 spam regulations, the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation (TCCCPR), TRAI instructed telecom companies to establish a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform to manage user consent for commercial communication and to register companies/telemarketers that send commercial messages. The DLT platform registers headers and content templates for commercial messages. Telecom companies also have to verify these companies and prescribe processes for sending commercial messages.
Header registration process:
Businesses must register the headers for commercial SMS either on their own or through their agents. Telecom companies verify their documents and credentials and bind headers to specific mobile devices and mobile numbers. Telecom companies also have to put Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)-registered entities or other entities that TRAI may specifically…
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