Why Are Robocalls So Hard to Stop? (Plus: Kamala and the Gender Wars.)

Plain English with Derek Thompson

Derek offers his thoughts on Kamala Harris, the new 2024 reality, and gender polarization in the "boys vs. girls" election. Then we talk about the spam apocalypse. The average American receives one spam call or text every single day, adding up to tens of billions of robocalls and texts per year. Derek welcomes Joshua Bercu, the executive director of Industry Traceback Group, to talk about the history and technology behind robocalls and texts, why it’s been so hard to hold robocallers accountable, how spammers do that thing where they make a call look like it’s coming from a local friend, how we've managed to crush certain kinds of robocalls, and what it would take to finally win the war on spam.

If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [e-mail].

Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Joshua Bercu

Producer: Devon Baroldi

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