Tennessee Attorney General Joins Bipartisan Coalition Urging FCC TO Strengthen Robocall Protections

Tennessee Attorney General Joins Bipartisan Coalition Urging FCC TO Strengthen Robocall Protections

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and a bipartisan coalition of 48 other attorneys general are urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to strengthen its "Know Your Upstream Provider" (KYUP) requirements to help prevent scammers from using the U.S. phone network to make illegal robocalls.

KYUP rules require voice service providers to vet the companies that originate and route calls through their networks and take steps to prevent providers that facilitate illegal calls from continuing to operate.

"Illegal robocalls waste our time and attention and Tennesseans beyond sick of them," said Attorney General Skrmetti. "Companies that carry calls across our nation's phone networks have a responsibility to know who they are connecting us with and need to take reasonable steps to stop illegal robocalls. Strengthening these safeguards will help protect consumers and give law enforcement the tools needed to hold bad actors accountable. My office is glad to keep pushing for stronger federal safeguards until every last foreign scammer is locked out of the network."

While the FCC requires voice service providers to take reasonable measures to vet the companies that originate and route calls, some providers fail to do so, allowing illegal robocalls onto the U.S. communications network. Last year, Americans received nearly 30 billion scam robocalls and texts and lost nearly $2 billion to these scams.

The attorneys general are asking the FCC to require providers to more thoroughly vet and monitor their upstream customers, cut off companies that break the law, and strengthen oversight of STIR/SHAKEN, the framework designed to combat caller ID spoofing. They also want providers required to retain verification records for law enforcement and want the FCC to set clear enforcement penalties and move quickly to put these safeguards in place.

Tennessee's Robocall Enforcement Efforts

Attorney General Skrmetti is a member of the Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, which launched Operation Robocall Roundup in 2025. The task force has sent warning letters to smaller voice service providers and expanded its efforts to examine some of the nation's largest intermediate voice service providers.

The task force has also urged the FCC to strengthen its Know Your Customer requirements so phone companies verify who is using their networks and the nature of their customers' businesses. This is the third coalition filings state attorneys general have submitted to the FCC this year on illegal robocalls, following earlier filings on numbering abuse and customer verification.

Attorney General Skrmetti is joined in signing the letter by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.