Managing Text Messages as Records

Text messages feel ephemeral, but legally they’re not. A text message is a record whenever it documents a business activity, decision, or obligation — and organizations that failed to capture business texts have paid dearly for it.

The risk is real

Financial regulators have imposed billions of dollars in penalties on firms whose employees conducted business over personal texting and messaging apps the firm never captured — so-called off-channel communications. In government, agencies have faced controversy over officials’ texts that were not preserved. The lesson is universal: if business happens by text and you can’t produce it, “we didn’t keep it” is not a defense.

Why texts are hard to manage

• They live on mobile devices and carrier/app systems, not corporate servers.
• They’re informal and fast — no one thinks to file them.
• Personal-device use (BYOD) blurs the line between business and personal.

Managing them

• Policy first. Define whether business may be conducted by text at all, on which devices/apps, and prohibit unmonitored channels. A ban without an approved alternative tends to fail.
• Capture business texts into a managed repository — preserving the message content along with participants and timestamps. Mobile-capture and archiving tools exist for exactly this.
• Apply retention and holds to captured messages like any other record.
• Address BYOD explicitly, since personal devices are where much of this happens.

The principle

As with email and chat, the content — not the channel — determines whether something is a record, and the sustainable approach is automated capture, not relying on individuals to forward or screenshot their own texts. Decide what’s a record, capture it from the channels where business happens, and govern it. See the email and messaging records hub for more.