January, 2024 is going to go down in history as the most consequential month EVER for the TCPA.

Previously I think July, 2015 held the record. But with news of a new TCPA amendment in the works, a massive Public Notice proceeding opened and the filing of perhaps the single most impactful FCC ruling ever with the FR, January, 2024 is absolutely packed.

So I have actually had to hold back covering ANOTHER FCC ruling of massive importance to avoid overwhelming folks in the interim.

So here are the key points of the new ruling:

• FCC makes “clear that consumers may revoke prior express consent for autodialed or prerecorded or artificial voice calls and autodialed texts in any reasonable manner that clearly expresses a desire not to receive further calls or text messages, and that callers may not infringe on that right by designating an exclusive means to revoke consent that precludes the use of any other reasonable method.” This appears to be a big big change from existing law that allows businesses to contract for consent that cannot be revoked and otherwise set reasonable revocation method by contract;
• FCC determines using the words “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “revoke,” “opt out,” “cancel,” or “unsubscribe” via reply text message constitutes a reasonable means to revoke consent–BUT “this does not preclude, however, the use of other words and phrases to revoke consent.” So… this is useless. Yippee;
• FCC requires companies to honor company-specific do-not-call and revocation-of consent requests as soon as practicable and no more than 10 business days after receipt of the request— this is a big GIFT for informational callers, who previously had to honor consent immediately. Cuts down timeframe for telemarketing callers, however, who previously had up to 30 days to comply. MUCH better than the 24 hours that was originally proposed. Notably the FCC credits REACH for arriving at the 10 business day time frame!!! (See fn 42);
• FCC rules texters ca send one time post-revocation text seeking to clarify scope of revocation–but no response means opted out of everything. Not sure folks who have multiple layers of consent are going to take advantage of this. Especially since the text “must not contain any marketing or advertising content or seek to persuade the recipient to reconsider their opt-out decision.” hmmm
• FCC rules a “stop” to a marketing message prevents ANY further calls or texts in the absence of a consent exemption. A “stop” to an informational message revokes ALL ability to message–even for emergency or informational purposes. These are HUGE changes. Need to unpackage this in a separate blog but will definitely change guidance in circumstances where multiple layers of consent were obtained.

You can read the full ruling here: Draft FCC TCPA Order re Consent Revocation (DOC-400039A1)

I will be providing additional analysis of this new rule over the next couple of weeks–including the seeming disconnect between the new requirement that a business cannot “designate” a means to revoke consent and the current law permitting businesses to include contract terms that contain binding consent and/or revocation clauses. Really really important issue–just don’t have time to dive into it today.