Congress enacted the TCPA in 1991. The FCC implements it in 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200 and related parts. The FTC administers the National Do Not Call Registry used with those rules. The statute reaches both voice and, through FCC interpretation and later amendments, many marketing texts. STIR/SHAKEN and spoofing law sit nearby but are not the TCPA's consent engine.
ATDS, prerecorded voice, and marketing
The statute restricts certain calls using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) and certain calls using an artificial or prerecorded voice, with different treatment for emergency calls, consent, and (historically) residential versus wireless lines. In Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid (2021), the Supreme Court held that an ATDS is equipment that uses a random or sequential number generator to store or produce numbers to be called. Autodialer coverage after Duguid is narrower than many pre-2021 theories, but prerecorded-voice marketing restrictions and Do Not Call rules remain independently important. State laws and contract terms can still be stricter.
| Concept | What to know | Not the same as |
|---|---|---|
| Prior express written consent (marketing) | FCC rules have long required prior express written consent for marketing autodialed or prerecorded calls/texts to wireless numbers (and for prerecorded marketing to residential lines), with E-SIGN-capable written agreements and specified disclosures. | An invoice, a missed-call text with no marketing, or a purely informational call may sit in different buckets. Classification is fact-specific. |
| National Do Not Call (DNC) | Selling via telephone generally requires honoring the National DNC Registry and internal do-not-call lists, with limited established-business-relationship and other exceptions in the rules. | DNC is not a substitute for consent where consent is required. Being absent from DNC does not authorize autodialed marketing to a cell. |
| Caller ID on telemarketing | Telemarketing rules require transmitting caller ID and a number where DNC requests can be made. Blocking (*67) is not available as a telemarketing practice. | STIR/SHAKEN attestation. You can attest a number and still violate TCPA. |
The FCC one-to-one consent rule (2023-2025)
In December 2023 the FCC adopted new restrictions on what counts as prior express consent for telemarketing and advertising robocalls and robotexts. The order would have required consent to one seller at a time ("one-to-one") and limited the subject matter of later calls to topics "logically and topically" related to the interaction that prompted consent. The rules were aimed at lead-generator comparison sites that collected one checkbox for many sellers.
On 24 January 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit decided Insurance Marketing Coalition, Ltd. v. FCC, 127 F.4th 303. The court held that those new consent restrictions exceeded the FCC's authority under the TCPA because they conflicted with the ordinary meaning of "prior express consent." The court vacated Part III.D of the 2023 Order and remanded to the agency. The one-to-one and "logically and topically related" requirements did not take effect as lasting FCC rules. In 2025 the FCC removed the vacated provisions from its published rules.
As of 2026, businesses should not treat the vacated one-to-one rule as in-force federal law. They should still obtain clear, unambiguous consent before marketing robocalls or robotexts, and written consent where the remaining FCC consent rules require it. Lead-generator programs remain a high-litigation area. This page does not say what a valid consent form must contain for a specific campaign.
Private right of action and statutory damages
47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3) creates a private right of action. A person may recover actual monetary loss or $500 in statutory damages per violation, whichever is greater. If the court finds the defendant willfully or knowingly violated that subsection, it may treble the award (up to $1,500 per violation). These figures are the statute's civil damages, not an FCC forfeiture schedule. TCPA class actions and per-text theories are why consent records matter operationally.
- There is no single "TCPA fine" amount for FCC enforcement. Forfeitures, if any, follow separate Communications Act processes and current Commission practice.
- State attorneys general and the FCC have additional enforcement tools. They are not the $500 / $1,500 private-action schedule.
- Call recording consent (one-party vs all-party states) is a different body of law from TCPA autodialer consent.
Texts, 10DLC, and A2P
Carrier 10DLC registration and The Campaign Registry are industry connectivity rules. They do not replace TCPA consent. A campaign can be approved on 10DLC and still generate TCPA liability if consent is missing or the content is marketing without the required consent. A2P throughput is a spam and deliverability control, not a legal safe harbor.
Practical recordkeeping (not a checklist for counsel)
- Store who consented, when, to what, from which form or recorded call, and which numbers will be used.
- Honor revocation promptly (reply STOP on SMS, verbal opt-out on a call).
- Separate informational traffic from marketing traffic in scripts and campaigns.
- Reconcile DNC, internal suppression, and reassigned-number databases on a schedule your counsel sets.