TCPA Explained: Robocall, Text, and Telemarketing Law (2026)

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227, is the federal law that restricts robocalls, autodialed or prerecorded calls and texts, and unsolicited faxes. Enacted in 1991, it requires consent before most marketing calls, backs the National Do Not Call Registry, and lets consumers recover $500 to $1,500 per violation.

This guide covers the federal TCPA, its FCC implementing rules at 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200, and the FTC-run National Do Not Call Registry. It does not cover state wiretap or eavesdropping statutes, which set the separate consent rules for recording a call already in progress; for that state-by-state map, see recordinglaw.com's US recording laws by state guide.

What the TCPA Regulates (47 U.S.C. § 227)

Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, Pub. L. No. 102-243, after unwanted telemarketing calls became one of the most common consumer complaints reported to federal regulators. The law is codified at 47 U.S.C. § 227 and gives the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authority to write implementing rules, found at 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200. Section 227(b)(1) is the core prohibition, and it restricts four categories of contact: (A) calls or texts to a cell phone, hospital patient room, emergency line, or pager using an automatic telephone dialing system (an "autodialer") or an artificial or prerecorded voice, without an applicable exception; (B) prerecorded voice calls to a residential landline without the resident's prior express consent; (C) unsolicited fax advertisements sent without an established business relationship and a compliant opt-out notice; and (D) autodialer calls that simultaneously tie up two or more of a business's telephone lines. Section 227(c) separately directs the FCC to protect residential subscribers through national do-not-call rules.

The definition of "automatic telephone dialing system" has driven significant litigation. In Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, 592 U.S. 395 (2021), the U.S. Supreme Court held that equipment qualifies as an autodialer under § 227(a)(1) only if it can store or produce phone numbers using a random or sequential number generator, narrowing the TCPA's reach compared to how some lower courts had read the term. Calls or texts sent from a fixed, targeted list of numbers, without random or sequential number generation, may fall outside the autodialer prohibition, though they can still violate the TCPA's separate rules for prerecorded or artificial voice messages, unsolicited faxes, and telemarketing generally.

Prior Express Consent vs. Prior Express Written Consent

The TCPA uses two different consent standards depending on the type of call. Non-marketing (informational) autodialed or prerecorded calls to a cell phone need only "prior express consent," which the FCC has said can be satisfied simply by knowingly providing a phone number to a business in a context reasonably related to the call, such as listing a number on a loan or medical intake form. Marketing or telemarketing calls and texts made with an autodialer or a prerecorded or artificial voice need the higher standard: "prior express written consent" under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(2). Written consent must be a signed agreement (an electronic signature qualifies) that clearly authorizes the specific seller to deliver telemarketing messages using an autodialer or prerecorded voice to a specific number, includes a clear disclosure of what the consumer is agreeing to, and cannot be made a condition of buying anything, under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(f)(9).

Consent is not permanent. Callers must let a consumer revoke it "at any time" through "any reasonable method," including replying STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL, or UNSUBSCRIBE to a text message, using an automated opt-out option offered during a call, or another method the caller has made available, and the caller has up to 10 business days to honor the revocation under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(10). A revocation applies to the specific number and caller involved; it does not automatically cancel consent given to a different company.

Why Businesses Say "This Call May Be Recorded" (and Why That Is Not Really a TCPA Rule)

Businesses give the "this call may be recorded for quality assurance" disclosure mainly to satisfy state recording-consent law, not the TCPA. The TCPA in 47 U.S.C. § 227 governs whether a business may contact you by autodialer, prerecorded voice, or text in the first place; it does not set the rule for whether a call already in progress may be recorded. Recording consent is governed by a separate body of law: the federal Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d), which allows one party to a call, including the business itself, to record without telling the other party, alongside a group of state statutes that require all parties to a call to consent before it can be recorded. Because a national call center cannot always know in advance which state's law applies to the person on the other end, giving the recording disclosure on every call is the simplest way to obtain the consent that the strictest states require.

The TCPA and its FCC rules do impose their own, separate disclosure duties that are easy to confuse with the recording notice. A prerecorded telemarketing message must identify the business on whose behalf the call is made and provide a number the recipient can call to make a do-not-call request, and it must offer an automated, interactive opt-out mechanism, generally within two seconds of the required identification, under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(b). None of these federal disclosure rules is the source of the "this call may be recorded" notice; they run alongside it and answer a different legal question. For the state-by-state rules on whether a call can be recorded, and whether one party or all parties must agree, see recordinglaw.com's US recording laws by state guide.

The National Do Not Call Registry

The National Do Not Call Registry, at donotcall.gov, lets a consumer register a phone number to stop most telemarketing sales calls. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) created and maintains the registry under the Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 310. The FCC enforces a parallel do-not-call rule under the TCPA itself, at 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c), and the TCPA gives consumers a private right of action under 47 U.S.C. § 227(c)(5) for repeated telemarketing calls to a registered number within a 12-month period. A number stays on the registry indefinitely once added, and telemarketers must check the registry no more than 31 days before calling a residential or wireless number.

Registration does not stop every call. The FTC exempts calls from political organizations and candidates, calls from charities calling on their own behalf (though a specific do-not-call request to that charity must still be honored), survey and market-research calls that are not selling anything, and calls from a company with which the consumer has an existing business relationship, generally within 18 months of a last purchase, payment, or delivery, or within 3 months of an inquiry or application. Debt-collection calls and purely informational calls, such as appointment reminders or fraud alerts, are also treated differently than telemarketing sales calls under the FCC's rules.

TCPA Damages: A Quick Look

The TCPA lets a consumer sue in state or federal court for actual monetary loss or statutory damages, whichever is greater, under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3). Statutory damages are $500 for each violation of the calling and texting restrictions in § 227(b) or the do-not-call provisions in § 227(c). If a court finds that the violation was knowing or willful, it has discretion to increase the award up to three times that amount, or $1,500 per violation. Because a single automated campaign can generate thousands of individual calls or texts, each counted separately, TCPA claims are one of the more active areas of federal class-action litigation. For real recent settlement examples, how courts count "per violation," and the current status of FCC consent rulemaking, see TCPA damages and lawsuits.

Recognizing a Possible TCPA Violation and Getting Help

Common signs of a possible TCPA violation include a prerecorded or robotic-sounding message on a call never agreed to; repeated telemarketing calls after a number has been on the National Do Not Call Registry for more than 31 days; marketing texts that continue after a consumer replied STOP; and autodialed calls or texts to a cell number never given to that business. None of these facts alone guarantees a violation occurred, since exceptions and consent history matter, but they are the pattern most TCPA claims involve.

A consumer who suspects a violation can document it by saving caller ID information, call and text logs, voicemails or screenshots, and the date and time of each contact, and by noting whether the number was on the Do Not Call Registry and for how long. Complaints can be filed with the FCC at consumercomplaints.fcc.gov, with the FTC at donotcall.gov/report.html or reportfraud.ftc.gov, and with a state attorney general's consumer protection office. A licensed attorney can review call records and consent history, calculate potential statutory damages, and advise whether the facts support an individual claim or fit an existing class action. This article provides general information only and does not predict the outcome of any specific situation.

Disclaimer

This article explains the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act as general legal information current as of mid-2026. It does not cover state wiretap or recording-consent statutes in detail, which are addressed in recordinglaw.com's state-by-state recording law guides, and it is not legal advice. TCPA cases turn on specific facts, including exactly what consent was given and when, so consult a licensed attorney in your state before making decisions based on a possible violation.

Related articles

• TCPA damages and lawsuits: statutory penalties and recent settlements
• US recording laws by state

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Last updated: July 2026. Statutes and FCC rules cited reflect their status as of this date. TCPA rulemaking is active, so confirm current requirements before relying on them.