We aim to keep our customers and industry associates up-to-date with the compliance news reported around our industry. These articles are reprinted here for our readers, courtesy of TCPA World, Mac Murray & Shuster, LLP, and Convoso.
New Anti-Robocall Bill Targets TCPA’S ATDS Definition
U.S. Representative Frank Pallone (D-NJ) introduced the “Do Not Disturb Act,” a bill that would strengthen the FTC and FCC’s robocall enforcement regime.
Most notably, the bill would replace the TCPA’s definition of an “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS) with a new term, “robocall,” defined to include calls made and text messages sent (1) using equipment that makes calls or sends text messages without substantial human intervention to stored telephone numbers or telephone numbers generated by a random or sequential number generator, or (2) using an artificial or prerecorded voice or an artificially generated message.
Note: Since being introduced, the Do Not Disturb Act has gained co-sponsors and seems to be gaining momentum in Congress, according to TCPAWorld.
Read more on the bill’s contents and consequences >
FCC Makes It Official – AI is an Artificial/Prerecorded Voice Under the TCPA
The TCPA has always prohibited initiating a telephone call using an “artificial or prerecorded voice” without prior express written consent (PEWC) unless the call is made for “emergency purposes.” Today the FCC clarified through its Declaratory Ruling that an artificial or prerecorded voice includes an artificial intelligence voice.
For compliance purposes, most companies are already treating AI calls the same as a prerecorded message, so the Ruling will have little impact on their business. For those that have not, the practical effect is that all call campaigns using AI to place telemarketing calls must have PEWC before initiating the call. Informational calls to cell phones require prior express consent.
TCPA Class Action Filings Up Staggering 18.7 Percent Last Year
TCPA filings were up overall but TCPA class actions–the cases that really matter–were up over 18%. Yikes!
Focusing on the last 5 months of the year, TCPA class actions from Aug-December, 2023 were up 29%!
Bottom line, with an 18.7% increase year over year in raw TCPA class action count the risk of a massive TCPA suit crippling your business is definitely increasing!
FCC Approves Report and Order on the Revocation of Consent
At the FCC’s Open Meeting on the agenda for the Commissioners was voting on the Report and Order and Further Notice of Posed Rulemaking for docket number 02-278, “Empowering Consumers to Block Robocalls and Robotexts”. Or in short, revocation of consent.
The proposed Report and Order circulated at the end of last month. With the Commissioner’s approval today, the following will likely be effective within 30 days after being published in the Federal Registry. At a high level the Report and Order will:
- Codify the Commission’s 2015 ruling that consumers can revoke consent under the TCPA through any reasonable means while providing additional clarification on what “reasonable” means in this context.
- Require that robocallers and robotexters honor do-not-call and consent revocation requests as soon as practicable, and no longer than 10 business days from receipt.
- Codify the Commission’s 2012 ruling which clarified that a one-time text message confirming a consumer’s request that no further text messages be sent does not violate the TCPA as long as the confirmation text merely confirms the called party’s opt-out request and does not include any marketing information.
Read more about the impact of this Report and Order >
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