Verizon Wireless, the nation’s second largest cellular phone company, has reversed its decision to prohibit NARAL Pro-Choice America from sending text messages to its members over Verizon’s network. Verizon had originally rejected NARAL’s request for a five-digit “short code,” which allows members to sign up to receive text messages from the organization, claiming that they would not allow the distribution of material that “in its discretion, may be seen as controversial or unsavory to any of its users.”
When this rejection was made public on Wednesday, Verizon received over 20,000 messages in under two hours from NARAL supporters and Verizon customers protesting the decision. Verizon Wireless said that its original decision was based on policy implemented before the creation of spam filters to prevent unwanted text messages, such as adult material or hate messages.
“The fight to defeat corporate censorship has won,” said NARAL’s president Nancy Keenan reports the New York Times.
