Dive Brief:
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A group of Democrats in the U.S. Senate is questioning an element of PayPal’s new user policy, effective July 1, that automatically opts customers into receiving robocalls and texts for marketing, research, and debt collection. The Federal Trade Commission last week told the payments company that it has “serious concerns” about the policy.
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Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA), Al Franken (D-MN), Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Ron Wyden (D- OR) Tuesday sent a letter to the payments company demanding that it re-examine the policy, writing, "Consumers should not have to agree to submit themselves to intrusive robocalls in order to use a company's service.”
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PayPal said it’s looking "forward to responding” to the letter.
Dive Insight:
PayPal and eBay have both reportedly included this new requirement in their new user policies, drawing scrutiny from New York’s attorney general, the Federal Trade Commission, and now members of Congress. Robocalls are among the intrusions most hated by consumers.
PayPal has noted that its customers can opt out of the provision. But Retail Dive found it difficult to do so, getting only a generic response to a request to opt out, without any clear indication that the opt-out was successfully achieved. eBay had no way to opt out via email at all.