Supporting Survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence, Lifeline and Link Up Reform and Modernization, Affordable Connectivity Program
In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) begins the process of implementing the Safe Connections Act, taking significant steps to improve access to communications services for survivors of domestic abuse and related crimes. We seek comment on the implementation of the Safe Connections Act's statutory requirement that mobile service providers separate the line of a survivor of domestic violence (and other related crimes and abuse), and any individuals in the care of the survivor, from a mobile service contract shared with an abuser within two business days after receiving a request from the survivor. We also seek comment on a proposal to require service providers to omit from consumer-facing logs of calls and text messages any records of calls or text messages to hotlines listed in a central database of hotlines that the Commission would create. We also seek comment on whether to designate the Lifeline program or the Affordable Connectivity Program as a means for providing survivors suffering financial hardship with emergency communications support for up to six months, as required by the Safe Connections Act.
What this rule actually says
The FCC is creating new rules to help domestic violence survivors escape shared phone plans with their abusers. Mobile carriers would have to split a survivor off a shared contract within 2 business days of request. Additionally, carriers must hide calls/texts to domestic violence hotlines from phone bills, and may provide free emergency phone service to survivors for up to 6 months.
Who it applies to
- If you build AI that integrates with mobile carriers or processes call/text metadata, this matters to you.
- If you're in the US, this applies (FCC jurisdiction).
- If you process or display call logs, text histories, or phone billing information, you need to know the hotline-hiding requirement.
- If you're a mobile carrier or work directly with carriers, this is critical compliance work.
- If you're building a medical scribe, hiring assistant, or support chatbot that doesn't touch carrier data or billing: this almost certainly doesn't apply to you.
This rule does *not* apply to: consumer messaging apps, general-purpose chatbots, AI that analyzes customer support tickets, hiring tools, or medical documentation systems (unless they're processing carrier billing data).
What founders need to do
- Assess if you touch carrier data (2-3 hours): Does your AI product process phone bills, call logs, or text message histories? If no, stop here.
- If yes, identify hotline handling (1-2 days): Map where hotline calls/texts appear in your system. Determine if you display, store, or log them.
- Implement call/text hiding for hotlines (3-5 days): Build logic to detect calls/texts to hotlines on the FCC's future database and omit them from any user-facing logs or billing records. This isn't live yet—the FCC is still collecting comments—but start planning now.
- Audit carrier integration touchpoints (ongoing): If you work with mobile carriers, ensure you're not inadvertently exposing survivor data or blocking the 2-business-day separation requirement.
- Monitor FCC guidance (ongoing): This is still in "proposed" status. The FCC will publish final rules after reviewing comments. Set a calendar reminder to check for updates in 6-12 months.
Bottom line
If you're not building something that touches mobile carrier data or phone bills, ignore this entirely. If you are, monitor it closely and plan to implement hotline-hiding once final rules drop.