How to Stop Robocalls—or At Least Slow Them Down

So, yes, robocalls. They are a big issue. You probably get them multiple times a week, or multiple times a day. Sometimes you're waiting for an important call, only to get an automated voice offering you a new yacht. Or you miss an important call, because you thought it might be the yacht bros again. It's a maddening cycle. And though the total volume of robocalls in the US is down a bit from its all-time high in March, according to call blocking service YouMail, that still amounted to 4.7 billion robocalls in May.

Robocalling is certainly not a new scourge, and some its recent decline may indicate that blocking technologies and high-profile enforcement efforts are actually working. But many of the truly new defenses carriers are working on haven't fully rolled out yet, and the Federal Communications Commission is still catching up on long-time proposals. On Thursday, the agency finally approved phone carriers to begin blocking robocalls by default, a proposal that first surfaced in the Obama administration.

"If there is one thing in our country right now that unites Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, socialists and libertarians, vegetarians and carnivores, Ohio State and Michigan fans, it is that they are sick and tired of being bombarded by unwanted robocalls," FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement on Thursday.