Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, joined by a bipartisan coalition of 48 other attorneys general, sent a letter urging the FCC to strengthen its 'Know Your Upstream Provider' (KYUP) rules to keep illegal robocalls off the U.S. phone network. The coalition asks the FCC to mandate baseline vetting measures for upstream providers, add monitoring triggers, strengthen STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication, establish base penalties, and require retention of KYUP data. No company was fined in this action; it is regulatory advocacy that builds on the Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force's Operation Robocall Roundup, which sent warning letters to 37 voice providers.
No remedies were imposed; this is a coalition letter urging FCC rulemaking. The attorneys general request that the FCC: mandate five categories of baseline KYUP measures requiring voice service providers to collect verified information from and thoroughly vet upstream provider customers; require additional triggers for regular upstream provider monitoring; strengthen STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication protections; implement new rules quickly; establish base penalties for providers that fail monitoring requirements or violate STIR/SHAKEN; and require voice service providers to collect and retain KYUP verification and monitoring data for use by law enforcement and attorneys general.
This coalition letter signals that the FCC's 'Know Your Upstream Provider' requirements are likely to become more prescriptive, with mandatory vetting, ongoing monitoring triggers, base penalties, and data-retention obligations for voice service providers. In-house teams at companies that provide or contract with voice/telecom services should review carrier and vendor agreements for upstream-provider vetting and 'Know Your Customer' representations, ongoing monitoring and audit rights over upstream providers, STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication compliance obligations, termination or suspension rights when a provider transmits illegal or suspicious robocalls, indemnification for telecom-law and robocall violations, and record-retention clauses covering KYUP verification and monitoring data. Customer-facing calling agreements should also include representations that outbound calling complies with robocall consent and caller ID rules, and procurement diligence should add telecom vendors to regulatory-compliance screening given the task force's warning letters to noncompliant providers.
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Federal Communications Commission
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Telecommunications"pushing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to strengthen its “Know Your Upstream Provider” (KYUP) requirements"
"Attorney General Jay Jones and a bipartisan coalition of 48 other attorneys general"
"Attorney General Jones is joined in signing this letter by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia"
"KYUP rules require voice service providers to ensure that they receive calls from legitimate and responsible providers and do not regularly pass through lots of illegal calls."
"STIR/SHAKEN is a framework to ensure that a caller is placing calls from phone numbers that are not being spoofed."
"Pushed the FCC to strengthen its Know Your Customer rules to require phone companies to verify who is making calls using their networks and what kinds of business their customers are conducting."
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, leading a bipartisan coalition of 48 other state and territorial attorneys general, sent a letter urging the FCC to strengthen its 'Know Your Upstream Provider' (KYUP) rule so phone companies must properly vet, continuously monitor, and cut ties with upstream providers that facilitate illegal robocalls and caller ID spoofing. The coalition asks the FCC to set minimum vetting standards, require periodic re-checks rather than one-time contract reviews, strengthen caller ID authentication across the call chain, impose meaningful penalties, and mandate record-keeping for investigators. No fine or injunction was imposed; the letter notes Americans received more than 29.6 billion scam robocalls and texts last year and lost nearly $2 billion to these scams.
Attorney General Rayfield and a coalition of 49 other attorneys general sent a letter to the FCC urging it to strengthen its Know Your Customer (KYC) rules to combat illegal robocalls. The coalition recommends requiring providers to understand customers' business, applying KYC standards to all providers, and collecting additional information on high-risk customers. No monetary penalty was imposed.
Attorney General Ellison and 48 other attorneys general called on the FCC to strengthen rules to cut off scammers' access to legitimate telephone numbers. The coalition is responding to the FCC's proposed rules to combat illegal robocalls and texts, which cost Americans nearly $2 billion last year.
Attorney General William Tong and 48 other attorneys general submitted comments to the FCC urging stronger rules to prevent scammers from accessing legitimate telephone numbers for illegal robocalls. The coalition is responding to the FCC's proposed rules and asks for measures such as stronger certification, reporting, and prohibitions on number cycling.
$353.0M
Attorney General Jay Jones announced a landmark $17 billion multistate settlement with Meta, with $353 million guaranteed for Virginia, resolving a child-safety lawsuit brought by a multistate coalition against the social media company. The settlement includes monetary relief and guardrails aimed at protecting children on Meta's platforms.
$353.0M
Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones announced a landmark $17 billion multistate settlement with Meta joined by 52 states and U.S. territories, resolving claims that Meta deceived the public about addictive design features harming youth mental health and shared Facebook users' private information with third parties before the 2016 election. Virginia is guaranteed $353 million (with an additional $11 million for the data-sharing claims, bringing its total to $364 million). Meta must implement sweeping child-safety reforms on Instagram and Facebook, including age verification, daily time limits, and 'check in breaks,' with implementation and efficacy regularly assessed by an independent auditor.