BOSTON – It’s election season and people are getting barraged with political text messages. WBZ-TV addressed this issue in May, but a successful business owner from Massachusetts came up with a solution he thinks could solve the problem permanently.

How can you stop political text messages?

During WBZ-TV’s original story, a teenager who is too young to vote was getting harassed by political robotexts.

“They want me to vote. They want me to send money. It’s a lot. They ask me for a lot,” 15-year-old Madison Medina said at the time.

Cyber security expert Peter Tran said people should simply reply “stop” to unsubscribe, then delete and report as junk. 

Even the experts admitted that would slow down, but not stop the avalanche of political texts.

Who is Paul English?

The story prompted many messages from viewers. One of them was from Paul English.

English grew up in West Roxbury, went to UMass and later founded travel behemoth Kayak.com, which was later sold for almost $2 billion in 2012.

“We made a lot of people happy on the day we sold,” English said. “I’ve given away half my Kayak money so far and I’m involved in a lot of non-profits.”

English is still developing apps, including one he believes can solve the problem of political robotexts. His newest creation began when he was at dinner with a friend, Vinayah Ranade.

“My friend gets a political text. He looks at it and says, ‘[Expletive] another political text. We need to do something about this,’” English said.

How does SpamStrike app work?

So English and Ranade co-created “SpamStrike,” an app that claims to block all political texts.

The app keeps a list of keywords that usually pop up, things like candidate names, words like donate, vote and poll. And you can add to the list.

It then uses artificial intelligence to study all of the flagged messages to learn what other words are red flags. In the month the app has been online, it claims to have blocked almost 150,000 texts.

The app only blocks political talk from people not in your contacts. So what happens if there’s a mistake?

“If you go into your messages app there’s a junk folder and you will see SpamStrike listed. Anything we’ve filtered is there. So if you don’t trust it, and you want to see what we’re doing, we don’t delete it. It just goes to your junk folder,” English said.

English said he does not want to make money off the app.

“Right now the idea is end the spam immediately. We are just doing it free, almost think of it as a giveback to the community,” English said.

There are other apps that also block texts. Some cost up to $100 per year.

If you have a question you’d like us to look into, please email questioneverything@cbsboston.com.   

Six weeks of 2024 Massachusetts high school football season are in the books and four teams moved up in our Top 25 rankings after Catholic Memorial won a thriller to upset Xaverian Brothers.

With Week 7 right around the corner, here’s the complete breakdown of the elite Massachusetts high school football teams, as we see them.

In the battle of the St. John’s, the Eagles picked up a three-touchdown road victory in Shrewsbury. They will host Malden Catholic this week before three consecutive games against Top 10 opponents to close out the regular season.

The Warriors held their third straight opponent to a touchdown or less with a 50-0 road win over Sharon.

Williston Northampton defeated the Salisbury School at home. The Wildcats will travel to Connecticut this week to face Cheshire Academy.

The Eagles tallied at least 55 points for the second straight game, going on the road to beat Westfield 58-13.

The Rockets enjoyed a bye week and should be well rested for a road showdown with Braintree on Friday.

The Knights are the biggest riser this week after picking up their best win of the season, surviving a 40-37 shootout at home against Xaverian Brothers. They are two weeks away from hosting No. 1 St. John’s Prep.

Boston College stayed perfect with a 20-7 win over Malden Catholic, but the High Eagles will face their biggest test of the season yet on Friday when they host No. 9 Xaverian Brothers in their first Top 10 matchup of the year.

The Rams went on the road and hammered Silver Lake Regional 48-6 in front of the Lakers home fans.

The Hawks still look like they could be one of the best teams in the state, as both their losses have been by one score and have come against teams in the Top 10. They will look to get back on their feet with a statement win on the road against No. 7 Boston College on Friday.

The Sailors are making their first appearance in the Top 10 following a 52-0 win over Hanover. They are averaging just under 40 points per game this season and have won all but one game by at least 34 points.

— Sam Brown | sam@scorebooklive.com | @sblivesports

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