Yes, federal law limits marketing texts. Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and FCC rules, a business generally needs your prior express written consent before it sends marketing texts to your cell phone with an autodialer. You may revoke consent in any reasonable way, including by replying STOP. Whether a particular text breaks the law depends on its facts.
Most people facing a stream of sales texts did not ask for them, or agreed to something years ago without realizing it. You may have replied STOP and kept getting messages, or you may wonder how a store got your number at all. The question underneath is simple: does the law treat this as a real problem, or just as part of owning a phone? This page explains the federal rules on consent, revocation, reporting and the remedies a court may award.
What Federal Law Says About Unsolicited Marketing Texts
The main federal statute is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), 47 U.S.C. § 227. It restricts automated calls, artificial or prerecorded voice messages, telephone solicitations and junk faxes. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) writes the rules that carry it out. The FCC's consumer guide states that its rules ban text messages sent to a mobile phone using an autodialer unless the phone owner previously gave consent, or the message is sent for emergency purposes.
Two terms come up again and again.
- Automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS). Under 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(1), this is "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." People often call it an autodialer.
- Prior express written consent. This is the higher consent standard that FCC rules apply to telemarketing calls and texts sent with an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice. The FCC's guide states that commercial texts require written consent.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also has a role. It runs the National Do Not Call Registry and takes reports about unwanted sales calls and scams.
Texts from a debt collector are a separate subject governed by a different statute. The CFPB describes harassment by a debt collector as including repeated texts intended to harass, and this site covers debt collection harassment on its own page. For marketing texts, the TCPA question usually comes down to three things: the equipment used, what kind of message it was, and what consent existed.
When a Marketer Must Have Your Consent Before Texting
The core statutory rule is 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A). It makes it unlawful to make any call "other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party" using an ATDS or an artificial or prerecorded voice. The rule covers calls to a number assigned to a cellular telephone service, along with emergency lines and hospital patient rooms.
The FCC's regulation, 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a), sets the consent standard by type of message:
- Informational messages. Under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(1), a call made with an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice to a wireless number generally requires prior express consent. Appointment reminders and account alerts are examples. The FCC's guide states that for informational texts, consent may be oral.
- Marketing messages. Under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(2), a call to those numbers that "includes or introduces an advertisement or constitutes telemarketing" requires the "prior express written consent of the called party." Calls by or on behalf of a tax-exempt nonprofit, and certain HIPAA health care messages, are treated differently. The FCC's guide states that written consent may be given on paper or through electronic means, including website forms or a telephone keypress.
Because marketing texts carry the written-consent standard, a business having your phone number does not by itself show that it has consent to text you marketing messages. A store that has your number from a past purchase is in a different position from a sender holding your written agreement to receive marketing texts.
Whether a particular sign-up form, checkbox or keypress meets the regulation turns on exactly what it said and how it worked.
How You May Revoke Consent to Marketing Texts
Revocation means taking back consent already given. In practical terms, if you once agreed to receive texts and no longer want them, the regulation gives you several ways to say so, and the sender may not insist on only one. The rule is 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(10). It provides that a called party "may revoke prior express consent, including prior express written consent, to receive calls or text messages … by using any reasonable method to clearly express a desire not to receive further calls or text messages from the caller or sender."
The regulation names methods that count as reasonable on their own:
- an automated, interactive voice or key press-activated opt-out mechanism on a call;
- replying to an incoming text with "stop," "quit," "end," "revoke," "opt out," "cancel," or "unsubscribe"; or
- a website or telephone number the caller designates to process opt-out requests.
When you use one of these methods, "that consent is considered definitively revoked and the caller may not send additional robocalls and robotexts." A reply in other words still counts if "a reasonable person would understand those words to have conveyed a request to revoke consent." A sender whose texting system does not accept replies must disclose that clearly on each text and offer reasonable alternative ways to revoke.
The deadline. Revocation requests made in any reasonable manner "must be honored within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days from receipt of such request." The regulation also states that senders "may not designate an exclusive means to request revocation of consent."
The FCC's rules on consent and revocation have changed recently and are still changing. This section describes the regulation text as it currently reads. A few more texts within the ten-business-day window can feel like being ignored, but the regulation measures compliance from when the sender receives the request.
What the TCPA Allows Courts to Award
The TCPA creates two separate private actions, each with its own conditions. Put simply, the statute sets out what a court may order when a sender breaks the rules, from stopping the messages to awarding money for each violation. The consumer rights remedies page compares them with remedies under other federal laws.
Automated and prerecorded messages, 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3). If otherwise permitted by the laws or rules of court of a state, a person may bring an action in an appropriate state court based on a violation of subsection (b) or its regulations. The action may seek:
- an order to stop the violation;
- to recover "actual monetary loss from such a violation, or to receive $500 in damages for each such violation, whichever is greater"; or
- both.
If the court finds the defendant "willfully or knowingly" violated the rules, it "may, in its discretion, increase the amount of the award to an amount equal to not more than 3 times" that amount.
Do-not-call rules, 47 U.S.C. § 227(c)(5). This action is available 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 regulations prescribed under this subsection." It is also subject to state law and court rules. It allows the same forms of relief, but with "up to $500 in damages for each such violation." The defendant has an affirmative defense if it "has established and implemented, with due care, reasonable practices and procedures to effectively prevent telephone solicitations" in violation of the rules. The same discretionary increase applies to willful or knowing violations.
These are the limits of what the statute allows a court to award. They are not amounts any person is owed, and whether a situation supports an action under either provision is a case-by-case question. The consumer lawsuit page explains how these actions fit with other federal statutes.
How to Report Unwanted Marketing Texts
Federal agencies take reports through their own complaint processes, and each describes what happens next.
- The FCC. The FCC's guide states that you can report illegal calls or texts to the FCC by choosing the "unwanted calls" category, and can note whether a number is being spoofed, blocked or mislabeled. The FCC "doesn't resolve individual complaints." It uses them "to guide policy and possible enforcement," and a complaint may be shared with other enforcement agencies.
- The FTC. The FCC's guide also points to the FTC for reports of phone scams and do-not-call violations. The FTC's Do Not Call FAQs state that it "can't respond to each one." The FTC and other agencies analyze reports to act against illegal callers, and the FTC releases reported numbers each business day to carriers working on call-blocking.
- Forwarding to 7726. The FCC's guide states that most mobile carriers let customers block spam by forwarding the message to 7726 (SPAM), and that the details vary by provider.
You may use any of these channels, one of them, or none. A report to an agency is not the same as revoking consent with the sender, and it does not start a private action.
Answering a text from an unknown number can seem like the quickest way to make it stop. The FCC's guide advises against responding to texts from unknown or questionable sources and against clicking links in them.
What the National Do Not Call Registry Does — and Does Not — Cover
The FTC describes the National Do Not Call Registry as "a list that tells registered telemarketers what numbers not to call." It also states that the Registry "doesn't block calls." Registration is free at donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222 from the number being registered, according to the FCC's guide. The FTC states that a registration never expires. A number is removed only if it is disconnected and reassigned, or if its owner asks to remove it.
On timing, the FTC states that a number "should show up on the Registry the next day, but it can take up to 31 days for sales calls to stop."
The Registry has limits, as the FTC describes them:
- It "won't stop calls from scammers making illegal calls."
- Companies can still call "if you've recently done business with them, or if you've given them written permission to call." If someone asks such a company to stop, "they have to stop."
The FCC's guide adds that its robotext rules "apply even if you have not placed your mobile phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry." In other words, the consent rules for autodialed texts stand apart from the Registry. Many states also keep their own do-not-call lists, and state law may add protections that differ from state to state. The consumer law FAQ covers how these federal rules relate to one another.
If You'd Like a Consumer Rights Case Review
Text-message cases often turn on details that are easy to lose: how a number was first collected, what a sign-up screen said, the exact words of a STOP reply, and how many messages arrived afterward and when. A conversation about a situation like this can cover the sender, the screenshots and dates, any opt-out already sent, and what has happened since. This page does not cover debt collection texts in depth, or state do-not-call rules.
To discuss unwanted marketing texts with an attorney, a reader may request a consumer rights case review through Federal Consumer Rights.
