If unwanted calls or texts keep coming, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act is the federal law that addresses them. It limits autodialed and prerecorded calls and texts made without prior express consent, protects numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry, and allows private court actions. A TCPA attorney handles those cases.
Most people searching for a TCPA lawyer are not curious about telecommunications law. Their phone buzzes during work, at dinner and late in the evening. The messages are recorded, or they are texts from a number they never gave to anyone. Some have already replied "stop" and watched the messages continue anyway. Underneath the irritation sits a practical question: is this just the price of owning a phone, or does the law say something about it?
This page explains what the federal statute and the Federal Communications Commission's rules say, what conduct may fall within them, what remedies the statute makes available, and what options exist outside court.
What the Telephone Consumer Protection Act Is
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA, is codified at 47 U.S.C. § 227. It is a federal law, and it applies across the United States. Its core concern is calls and texts made with two kinds of technology: an automatic telephone dialing system, and an artificial or prerecorded voice.
An automatic telephone dialing system, often called an ATDS or autodialer, is defined in 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(1) as "equipment which has the capacity (A) to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator; and (B) to dial such numbers." Whether a particular calling platform meets that definition is a question about the equipment itself. The rest of this page refers back to this definition rather than restating it.
For a consumer, the statute matters in three main areas:
- Automated calls to cell phones, made with an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice.
- Prerecorded voice calls, including calls to residential lines.
- Calls to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry, under the statute's do-not-call provisions.
Congress directed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to write regulations carrying out the statute. Those rules appear at 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200. They include the current rules on how a person revokes consent.
What Conduct May Violate the TCPA
Calls to cell phones. Under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A), a call made using an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice to a number assigned to a cellular telephone service, a paging service or a service for which the called party is charged for the call may violate the statute. The exceptions are calls made for emergency purposes and calls made with the prior express consent of the called party. Prior express consent means permission the person called gave before the call was made.
Prerecorded calls to residential lines. Under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(B), a call to a residential telephone line that uses an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message without the called party's prior express consent may also violate the statute. That prohibition has its own exceptions, including calls made for emergency purposes and calls the FCC has exempted by rule or order.
Telemarketing. The FCC's regulation adds a stricter standard. Under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(2) and (a)(3), it generally requires prior express written consent for autodialed or prerecorded calls that include an advertisement or constitute telemarketing.
Do-not-call numbers. The do-not-call provisions in 47 U.S.C. § 227(c) address telephone solicitations. Under 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(4), a telephone solicitation is a call or message encouraging the purchase or rental of, or investment in, property, goods or services. The definition excludes calls made with the person's prior express invitation or permission, calls to a person with whom the caller has an established business relationship, and calls by a tax-exempt nonprofit organization. Section 227(c) authorized a single national database of residential numbers whose owners object to these calls. It also authorized rules prohibiting telephone solicitations to numbers in that database.
Revoked consent. Because so many of these rules depend on consent, it matters that consent can be withdrawn. Under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(10), a person may revoke consent by any reasonable method that clearly expresses a desire not to receive further calls or texts. The caller must honor the revocation within a reasonable time, not to exceed ten business days from receipt. The specific methods the rule treats as reasonable are listed in the section on responding to unwanted calls below.
The facts that decide most TCPA questions
Throughout this page, the same handful of facts keeps coming up. Rather than repeat them in every section, they are gathered here:
- Equipment: whether an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice was used.
- Line: whether the number called was a cell phone, a residential line or another kind of service.
- Purpose: whether the call was telemarketing, a telephone solicitation, an emergency call or something else.
- Consent history: whether permission was ever given, and whether it was later withdrawn.
Whether a particular call or text may violate the TCPA depends on how these facts line up. Later sections refer to them as "the key facts."
What Remedies the TCPA Makes Potentially Available
For someone who has spent months fielding calls they never wanted, a fair question is whether the law offers anything beyond a way to complain. The statute does provide two separate private actions, each with its own conditions.
Automated and prerecorded calls. Under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3), a person or entity may bring an action based on a violation of subsection (b) or its regulations. The action must be permitted by the laws or rules of court of a State and brought in an appropriate court of that State. The action may seek three things:
- an order to stop the violation;
- recovery for actual monetary loss or $500 in damages for each violation, whichever is greater;
- or both.
Do-not-call rules. Under 47 U.S.C. § 227(c)(5), the action belongs to a person who has received more than one telephone call within any 12-month period by or on behalf of the same entity in violation of the do-not-call regulations. It may seek three things:
- an order to stop the violation;
- recovery for actual monetary loss or up to $500 in damages for each violation, whichever is greater;
- or both.
The caller has an affirmative defense if it established and implemented, with due care, reasonable practices and procedures to effectively prevent telephone solicitations in violation of those regulations.
Willful or knowing violations. Under each provision, a court that finds the defendant willfully or knowingly violated the rules may, in its discretion, increase the award to not more than three times the amount otherwise available.
These figures describe what a court may award once a violation is proven. They are not amounts any person is owed, and whether a claim exists turns on the key facts and on how a court applies the statute to them. How these remedies compare with those under other federal consumer laws is covered in federal consumer rights remedies.
TCPA Class Actions: How They Work and When They Arise
Many people reasonably wonder whether their situation is "big enough" to matter. Unwanted calls rarely target one person alone. When the same caller allegedly sends the same type of unauthorized call or text to many people, those people may pursue their TCPA claims together as a class action.
In federal court, class actions are governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. A case does not proceed as a class action simply because it is filed as one. The court must certify the class, which means deciding that the group's claims can fairly be resolved together.
A potential TCPA class action is shaped by the same key facts as an individual claim, applied to a whole group, plus one more question: whether a class definition can be drawn that a court is likely to certify. Because each person's consent history may differ, certification is often contested. Whether any one person's experience fits within a class depends on the facts, and many unwanted-call matters proceed individually instead. The stages of a consumer case are described in how consumer lawsuits work.
How a Consumer Can Respond to Unwanted Calls and Texts
The federal rules and agency guidance describe several options. A consumer may use any of them, and none excludes the others.
The National Do Not Call Registry. The Federal Trade Commission's registry is a list of numbers that registered telemarketers must not call. The FTC's Registry FAQs say registration never expires. They also say it can take up to 31 days for sales calls to stop. The Registry does not block calls, so it will not stop calls from scammers making illegal calls. The FCC's consumer guide says numbers can be registered at donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222 from the number to be registered.
Revoking consent. The FCC's consumer guide says a person may opt out of any robocall or robotext at any time and in any reasonable manner, even after giving consent. Under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(10), the following are reasonable means per se to revoke consent:
- an automated, interactive voice or key-press opt-out on a call;
- the words "stop," "quit," "end," "revoke," "opt out," "cancel" or "unsubscribe" sent in reply to a text;
- a website or telephone number the caller designates to process opt-out requests.
A reply text using other words must be treated as a revocation if a reasonable person would understand it that way. Callers may not designate an exclusive means to revoke.
Agency complaints. The FCC accepts reports of illegal calls and texts under its "unwanted calls" category. The FCC says it does not resolve individual complaints but uses them to guide policy and possible enforcement. The FTC says it cannot respond to each report. It says it uses reports to identify illegal callers.
A consumer may also send a request through this site. Inquiries may be shared with independent law firms, which decide for themselves whether to follow up.
What a TCPA Attorney Does
The work in an unwanted-call matter is mostly factual, and it starts with the records. An attorney handling TCPA matters typically does the following:
- reviews call logs, text screenshots and voicemails;
- compares the equipment or voice used against the statutory autodialer definition described above;
- builds a timeline of any permission given and any "stop" or opt-out that followed;
- checks whether the number was on the National Do Not Call Registry and whether the calls were telephone solicitations;
- weighs whether a private action under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3) or 47 U.S.C. § 227(c)(5) is viable.
TCPA claims arise under federal law, and they can be litigated in the U.S. district courts. The statute's private-action provisions also refer to actions in an appropriate court of a State where its laws or rules of court permit them.
People in this position are often unsure whether a dated screenshot or a "STOP" reply is worth keeping. In these cases, those small records are frequently what the analysis turns on.
What This Page Does Not Cover
Some limits on this page are worth stating plainly. Federal Consumer Rights is not a law firm. It does not provide legal advice and does not represent consumers. Inquiries submitted through this site may be reviewed by independent attorneys who decide for themselves whether to respond.
This page also does not cover debt-collection law in depth. When the caller is a debt collector, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act separately addresses conduct that includes repetitious calls or electronic communications intended to harass, as the CFPB explains. State law may add protections, and those protections differ from state to state. Court decisions interpreting the autodialer definition, filing deadlines for TCPA claims, and FCC rulemaking beyond the rules quoted here are outside the scope of this page; an attorney reviewing a specific matter would address them.
Requesting a Consumer Rights Case Review
After weeks or months of unwanted calls, it is common to feel worn down and unsure whether the situation is worth anyone's time. Unwanted-call matters turn on details that are easy to lose: the number that called, the dates, what the message said, whether it was recorded or live, and when and how the word "stop" was sent. A conversation with an attorney about a matter like this typically covers the caller or company involved, the call and text logs and their dates, any permission that may have been given, any opt-out and what followed it, and any complaint already filed with the FCC or FTC. Related privacy questions are discussed on the page about consumer privacy law.
Anyone who wants an attorney to look at the calls or texts they have been receiving can request a consumer rights case review through Federal Consumer Rights.
