Text messages

The short version

TelePost interviews people on the phone and turns what they said into drafts they approve. Text messages exist to arrange that call and to tell you about your own drafts. Every message goes to one person and asks for an answer — there is no bulk send, no marketing, and no purchased list. Reply STOP to any message and nothing here will ever contact that number again.

Who gets texted, and why

• People who asked to be interviewed. You typed your own number into a TelePost form and ticked the box below. We text to confirm the call and to arrange a time.
• Sources a reporter wants to quote. A journalist using TelePost asks one named person, one at a time, whether they will give a recorded comment on a named story. See below — this one is different and it is worth being straight about.
• Account holders. Notices about your own interviews and drafts: the call is booked, the draft is ready to review.

How consent is given

On the signup form, under the number you type, is this. It is not ticked for you, and a number entered without it is discarded rather than stored:

The tick is recorded with the time and the IP address it came from. Re-typing the number clears the tick, because consent to be reached on one number is not consent to be reached on another.

What the messages look like

Real examples, with the names changed:

• Hi Maria — Drew Lentz at TelePost is writing about "City council delays the broadband vote" and would like your comment. Reply YES for a short recorded interview, LATER to pick a time, or STOP to never be contacted again.
• You're booked for your TelePost interview. We'll call this number Thursday at 2:15pm CT; the call is recorded. Reply LATER to move it or STOP to opt out.
• Your TelePost draft from this morning's interview is ready to review: https://telepost.ai/review/8412 — nothing publishes until you approve it. Reply STOP to opt out.

Links in our messages always point at telepost.ai. TelePost does not use link shorteners, so a shortened link claiming to be from us is not from us.

Frequency, cost, and stopping

• How often. Message frequency varies, and is typically one to three messages per request. A request nobody answers expires — there is no follow-up and no second attempt.
• Cost. Message and data rates may apply. TelePost charges you nothing for a text; your mobile network may.
• Stopping. Reply STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, or QUIT. You get one confirmation and then nothing, ever. The opt-out is permanent and platform-wide: it is not stored against the account that texted you, so it stops every account here, and it stops the phone ringing as well as the texts.
• Help. Reply HELP, or email hello@telepost.ai.
• Starting again. Reply START if you stopped and changed your mind.

Being contacted as a source

One of the three cases above is not like the others, and pretending otherwise would be the sort of thing this page exists to avoid. When a journalist using TelePost asks you for comment, you did not give us your number — the reporter had it, and asked us to send one message on their behalf.

What that message will always do: name the reporter, name the publication, say what the story is, and offer STOP in the first line you read. What it will never do: arrive twice, arrive without a reason, sell you anything, or come from a list somebody bought. Before it can be sent at all, the reporter has to record in writing who you are and why they are contacting you, under their own name.

If you would rather talk to the reporter than to a recorded interviewer, the message includes a link that puts you through to them directly. And if you would rather not be contacted, one word ends it everywhere, permanently.

Who sees your number

Your number is encrypted at rest. It is given to the messaging provider (currently sent.dm) and the calling provider (currently Vapi) so the message can be delivered and the call placed, and to nobody else. No mobile information is shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. The full detail is in the Privacy Policy.

Contact

Questions about messages from TelePost, or to be removed by hand: hello@telepost.ai.