alt Hacker NewsWe did not solve email with legislation. CAN-SPAM is a joke, and you as an individual have no recourse when you get spammed: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/inbox/can-spam_and_consumer_...
Email is tolerable because gmail and others implemented software spam filters. Gmail did so because they were in competition with other email providers and it was a way to get users. The incumbent phone carriers have no incentive to compete here.
Other platforms did better solving the spam problem, so most people simply don't use SMS/MMS anymore. The kids and young adults all moved to Telegram, Discord, Whatsapp, iMessage, etc.
I've used CAN-SPAM many times to enforce spam marketing from businesses plenty of times.
Further, it has required unsubscribe links to be included which allow you to opt out of any further communication. That is invaluable because you can't do that now with SMS.
I'm not discounting spam filters. They have certainly made life easier, but for things that _aren't_ caught by spam, I have at least some recourse by unsubscribing.