On January 27, 2025, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) new one-to-one consent requirement will go into effect. For background, the FCC published its final rule targeting and eliminating unlawful text messages under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) on January 26, 2024 (the Final Rule). Among other requirements and purposes, this Final Rule sought to close the “lead generator loophole.” Continue Reading FCC’s 1-to-1 Consent Requirement for Marketing Text Messages
In late 2023, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) adopted significant changes to its Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) regulations. The purpose of the changes was to address escalating consumer threats caused by scam robocalls and robotexts.
The FCC created new obligations for sellers/businesses that utilize text messaging and it imposed new requirements for mobile phone carriers. Most significantly, the manner in which (consumer) consent (to be contacted) is acquired has been revised. These revisions will have a profound effect on how third-party websites obtain consumer consent, and sellers/marketers will be accountable to strictly comply.Continue Reading Navigating FCC’s Latest Rules: A Quick Guide to Compliance with new TCPA Regulations
On April 1, 2021, the Supreme Court decided Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, which narrowed the scope of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA). The Court unanimously ruled that Facebook did not violate the TCPA by sending unsolicited text messages to individuals without their consent, overturning the Ninth Circuit’s decision to broadly define automatic telephone dialing systems (“autodialers”) under the federal statute. The case boiled down to everyone’s favorite subject—grammar.
Continue Reading Comma Again? The Supreme Court Provides a Grammar Lesson and Hands Down a Big Decision Impacting TCPA Compliance
On Dec. 30, 2019, President Trump signed the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act into law. As its name implies, the bipartisan TRACED Act targets unwanted and illegal robocalls by requiring carriers to implement a number-authentication system allowing consumers to better identify unwanted robocalls and by stiffening penalties for robocalls. The TRACED Act also contains important modifications to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which governs the use of automatically dialed telephone calls and text messages.
Continue Reading Passage of TRACED Act Promises More TCPA Enforcement and Regulatory Activity