TCPA Text Message Rules: Consent, Quiet Hours and STOP

Is a text message a “call” under the TCPA?

The statute was written in 1991, before the first text message was sent. The FCC has long treated texts as calls. Its rule on exempt calls to cell phones says plainly: “the term ‘call’ includes a text message, including a short message service (SMS) call” (47 CFR 64.1200(a)(9)). In January 2024 it codified that the National Do Not Call Registry’s protections “extend to text messages” (64.1200(e)).

The courts are now split, and the answer depends on which part of the statute you sue under.

The July 2026 Seventh Circuit decision

In Steidinger, consumers said Blackstone Medical Services kept texting them about home sleep tests after they replied “STOP” or joined the Do Not Call Registry. The Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal. It held that section 227(c)(5), which lets a person sue after receiving “more than one telephone call within any 12-month period,” does not cover texts.

The court’s reasoning: in 1991 a “telephone call” meant communication by sound. The statute’s definition of “telephone solicitation” covers “a telephone call or message,” but (c)(5) mentions only calls. The court read that difference as deliberate and called texts “messages, not calls.” It said it was not bound by the FCC’s contrary view after McLaughlin Chiropractic v. McKesson (2025).

Two points limit its reach. First, the decision binds only federal courts in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Second, the court said it was deciding (c)(5) only. It noted that cases under section 227(b), including the Ninth Circuit’s 2026 Howard decision holding that “a text message is properly deemed to be a ‘call’,” involve different language. Autodialed text claims under 227(b) were not affected. Our news report on the Seventh Circuit’s text message ruling has more on the decision.

Consent for marketing texts

A marketing text sent with an autodialer is a telemarketing robocall. Under 64.1200(a)(2), the sender needs your prior express written consent. That means a signed agreement, electronic signatures included, that:

• authorizes that seller to send you marketing messages using an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice,
• lists the phone number the messages will go to, and
• clearly tells you that you are not required to sign as a condition of buying anything.

Checking a box on a lead-generation site can count if the disclosure meets those terms. The FCC’s 2023 “one-to-one” rule, which would have limited each consent to a single seller, was vacated by the Eleventh Circuit in January 2025, and the FCC removed it from the rule in August 2025. Informational texts, such as a shipping or appointment notice, need only prior express consent, which you usually give by handing over your number for that purpose.

The catch after Facebook v. Duguid (2021): the 227(b) consent rule applies only if the text came from an “automatic telephone dialing system,” which the Supreme Court limited to equipment that uses a random or sequential number generator. Many mass-texting platforms send to stored customer lists, and companies argue they are not autodialers. Our page on what counts as an autodialer after Duguid covers how that plays out.

STOP means stop: revoking consent by text

Since April 11, 2025, 64.1200(a)(10) has said a reply of “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “revoke,” “opt out,” “cancel,” or “unsubscribe” is a reasonable way to revoke consent “per se.” Other wording counts too if “a reasonable person would understand those words to have conveyed a request to revoke consent.” The sender must honor the request within ten business days.

After you opt out, the sender may send one confirmation text. It cannot include marketing, and if it arrives within five minutes it is presumed permitted (64.1200(a)(12)). If a company texts from a system that cannot receive replies, every text must say so and give you another way to opt out.

A text that continues past the ten-business-day window after you said STOP is one of the clearest text claims, because the rule and the deadline are both written down. Our guide to revoking consent explains the pending FCC changes to these rules, including a September 30, 2026 proposal that would let senders designate an exclusive opt-out method.

Quiet hours for texts

The FCC’s calling-hours rule bars any “telephone solicitation” to a residential subscriber before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. at your location (64.1200(c)(1)). Because 64.1200(e) applies the (c) rules to “telephone solicitations or telemarketing calls or text messages to wireless telephone numbers,” a marketing text at 10:30 p.m. breaks the FCC rule.

Whether you can collect damages for it is a separate question. Quiet-hours claims are brought under section 227(c)(5). Under Steidinger, that route is closed for texts in the Seventh Circuit. In other circuits, courts must decide the question for themselves. Details on hours, including stricter state limits, are on our telemarketer calling hours page.

State texting laws can fill the gap

Several states have their own rules, and state claims are not affected by Steidinger. Florida is the best-known example:

• Florida bars commercial telephone solicitation before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. and limits sellers to three calls to a person in 24 hours on the same subject (Fla. Stat. 501.616(6)).
• For texts, the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act requires you to reply “STOP” first. You can sue only if the seller keeps texting more than 15 days later (Fla. Stat. 501.059(10)(c)).
• Damages are actual damages or $500, whichever is greater, and up to three times that for willful or knowing violations (501.059(10)(a) and (b)).

The Steidinger plaintiffs brought a Florida claim too. The federal court declined to keep it once the federal claim was dismissed, so it was not decided on the merits. Check your own state on our state telemarketing law pages.

Wrong-number and reassigned-number texts

If you got a new phone number and the texts are meant for the previous owner, that person’s consent does not transfer to you. The FCC’s rules give senders a narrow safe harbor only if they checked the federal reassigned numbers database and got a wrong answer, and the sender bears “the burden of proof and persuasion” on that point (64.1200(m)). Reply once, in writing, that the sender has the wrong number and that you want the texts to stop. Under the revocation rule, words like that count if “a reasonable person would understand” them as a request to stop. Keep counting the texts that follow.

What does not count as a violation

• A single text from a company you gave your number to, about the thing you asked about.
• Texts sent one at a time by a person typing them, with no autodialer, unless a Do Not Call or state rule applies.
• Package delivery, bank fraud-alert and health care texts that meet the FCC’s free-to-end-user exemptions in 64.1200(a)(9), which include limits like 160 characters and a STOP option.
• Political texts that do not sell anything are generally outside the Do Not Call rules, since those rules cover telephone solicitations.

What to do if the texts keep coming

Reply STOP once, in writing, and screenshot the reply with the date and time visible. Do not delete the thread. Count every text that arrives more than ten business days later. Note whether any arrived before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. Then record each one in our call and text evidence log and read our overview of spam text lawsuits to see which claims fit your facts and your state.