Telemarketing

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Last week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Telephone Customer Protection Act (TCPA) permits businesses to obtain only prior express consent rather than prior express written consent for autodialed and prerecorded calls and texts. This holding expressly rejects the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) interpretation of the TCPA’s consent requirement first promulgated in 2012.

In Bradford v. Sovereign Pest Control, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the lower court’s grant of summary judgment to the defendant, refusing to apply a stricter consent standard to telemarketing texts than to non-telemarketing or informational messages. In the case, the court rejected the FCC’s long-standing regulation that interpreted the TCPA to require prior express written consent for telemarketing messages, holding that because the TCPA’s statutory text does not distinguish between telemarketing and non-telemarketing/informational messages, courts should not apply a stricter consent standard for telemarketing messages.Continue Reading Fifth Circuit Limits TCPA Prior Express Written Consent Requirements

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has further extended the effective date of the Revoke All consent rule from April 11, 2026 to January 31, 2027. That rule requires businesses to treat a consumer’s consent revocation request made in response to one type of text message or call as applicable to all future calls and texts from that caller on all other matters. The FCC first extended the effective date last April.

The FCC’s new extension is intended to allow more time for the FCC to take comments and consider adjustments to the rule. In particular, the FCC recently initiated a rulemaking proceeding to seek comment on ways the agency can modify the requirement that a caller must treat an opt-out request made in response to one type of call or text to be an opt-out request for all types of calls and texts. Reply comments in that proceeding are due on February 3, 2026; please let us know if you would like to prepare and file comments.Continue Reading FCC Delays Revoke All Consent Rule for Robocalls and Text Messages Until 2027

Texas’s amended telemarketing registration law takes effect on September 1. Although the law is not new, the legislature expanded it to apply to text messages. Under Texas’s existing law, a company that makes telephone solicitations to or from Texas must obtain a registration certificate for each business location where it makes those telephone solicitations. Until now this requirement applied to outbound calls, but beginning September 1 it will also apply to outbound marketing text messages.

Certain types of entities and telephone solicitation activities are exempt from the registration requirement, such as communications soliciting food sales; soliciting businesses to purchase items for resale; soliciting former or current customers; and telephone solicitations for purchases that will be completed at in-person sales presentations.Continue Reading Compliance Deadline of September 1 for Companies Sending Texts: Telemarketing Registration in Texas

Join us as we spotlight select chapters of Venable’s popular Advertising Law Tool Kit, which helps marketing teams navigate their organization’s legal risk. Click here to download the entire Tool Kit.

Telephone and text message marketing is subject to complex litigation risks and regulatory challenges, requiring careful compliance. Federal laws like the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and state-specific laws regulate marketing calls and texts, focusing on the use of autodialers, prerecorded messages, and consent requirements.Continue Reading Telemarketing and Texting

The Fifth Circuit on April 17 vacated a $57 million FCC forfeiture against AT&T, ruling the agency violated the company’s Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial under the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in SEC v. Jarkesy. This decision reinforces that federal agencies imposing fines, forfeitures, and other monetary penalties must afford targets access to an Article III decision maker and a jury trial in order to perfect the penalty.Continue Reading Fifth Circuit Decision Vacating FCC Fine Against AT&T Makes It More Difficult for Federal Agencies to Impose Monetary Penalties for Violations of Agency Rules

In January the Eleventh Circuit vacated the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) one-to-one consent rule, finding that the agency exceeded its statutory authority under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The latest development is that on February 19, 2025, the National Consumers League and some small business owners filed a motion to intervene in the case…

Just before Thanksgiving, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a Final Rule significantly expanding the coverage of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). The amendment extends the TSR’s prohibition against deceptive practices to cover inbound telemarketing calls for technical support services.

Under the amendment, technical support services are defined as “any plan, program, software, or service that is marketed to repair, maintain, or improve the performance or security of any device on which code can be downloaded, installed, run, or otherwise used, such as a computer, smartphone, tablet, or smart home product, including any software or application run on such device.”Continue Reading Telemarketing Sales Rule Amendment Sparks Debate Between FTC Republicans Ahead of Administration Transition

In a pair of Notices of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture this week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a collective $8 million in fines against telecommunications company Lingo Telecom and political consultant Steven Kramer.

Robocalls, Generative AI, and Deepfakes

The FCC alleges Kramer violated the Truth in Caller ID Act. According to the FCC, two days before the New Hampshire 2024 presidential primary election, Kramer orchestrated a campaign of illegally spoofed and malicious robocalls that carried a deepfake audio recording of President Biden’s cloned voice telling prospective voters not to vote in the upcoming primary.

To transmit the calls, he worked with voice service provider Lingo Telecom, which incorrectly labeled the calls with the highest level of caller ID attestation, making it less likely that other telecommunications providers would detect the calls as potentially spoofed. For this reason, the FCC is also pursuing forfeiture against Lingo, alleging a violation of the STIR/SHAKEN rules for failing to use reasonable “Know Your Customer” protocols to verify caller ID information in connection with Kramer’s alleged illegal robocalls.Continue Reading FCC Proposes $8 Million in Fines Against Telecom Company and Political Consultant for Using Deepfake Generative Artificial Intelligence

It’s not often we see defendants win a resounding victory against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and/or state attorneys general, especially after trial. But a recent opinion out of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania provides us with just that. On March 29, 2024 the court issued a 55-page opinion following a 15-day bench trial on the FTC and Pennsylvania attorney general’s claims against American Future Systems, Inc. and its two co-defendants, finding in favor of the defendants on all six counts.

The FTC and Pennsylvania AG challenged telemarketing for print publications, claiming defendants deliberately misled consumers when defendants:Continue Reading Telemarketing Trial: Defendant Sweeps All Six Claims Against the FTC and Pennsylvania AG

Join us as we spotlight select chapters of Venable’s popular Advertising Law Tool Kit, which helps marketing teams navigate their organization’s legal risk. Click here to download the entire Tool Kit, and tune in to the Ad Law Tool Kit Show podcast, to hear an author of this chapter dive deeper into telemarketing and texting in this week’s episode.

Telephone and text message marketing poses private litigation risks and regulatory hurdles that should be considered before any campaign. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and states enforce do-not-call (DNC) laws and impose multiple other requirements regarding calling manner, disclosures, consent, opt-out, calling hour limits, caller identification, and telemarketer registration. Calls and texts made to cell phones, using certain types of dialing technology (including autodialers) and prerecorded messages (so-called robocalls), require particular attention, as much of the enforcement and litigation in this area involve texting and robocalling.Continue Reading Telemarketing and Texting: An Excerpt from the Advertising Law Tool Kit