New FCC TCPA Rules: How TLD is Protecting Your Business
Back in April the FCC adopted new rules updating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (“TCPA”) requirements regarding a consumer’s ability to revoke consent to receive calls and messages. While the TCPA currently restricts sending messages without prior consent, this ruling seeks to further clarify the ways consumers can revoke consent, require organizations to honor the requests in a reasonable time, and clarify the ways organizations can confirm the scope of the consumers requests.
In 2019, Capital One sought to seek clarification from the FCC regarding a “STOP” request when a consumer is signed up for multiple messaging programs (billing, receipts, offers, reminders, etc.). While it took almost five years a response from the FCC states “these new rules clarify that an organization can send a one-time message confirming a consumer’s request that no further messages be sent without violating the TCPA, as long as the confirmation message merely confirms the scope of the recipient’s opt-out request and does not include any additional marketing information. In other words, the organization can seek clarification on the scope of the recipient’s opt-out request”.
One of the most important factors of this ruling is if the consumer does not clarify the opt-out request the organization MUST treat it as a broad opt-out, effectively revoking consent for all future messages from the organization. The FCC states, “The lack of any response to the confirmation text must be treated by the sender as a revocation of consent for all robocalls and robo-texts from the sender.” Based on this ruling TLD has updated the DNC so that when someone Opts Out from Text Messaging (Not Double Opt-In Opt Outs, only Hard Opt-Outs) the system will now add the consumer to the TLDialer DNC List. Any lead added to the DNC in this manner will display in the DNC Logs showing when and how the consumer opted out, including if it was via SMS.
The inverse is also true, meaning if they re-opt in via SMS, the consumer will be removed from the DNC and the lead will once again be dialable. As always, the flexibility of TLD allows you to manually remove them from the DNC. Just remember, all DNC additions and removals are logged in the system with a timestamp, reason and who added or removed them for auditing purposes.
As the industry continues to transform, TLD remain steadfast in our commitment to providing you with the highest level of service. We actively monitor industry trends and comply with all FCC and regulatory guidelines to protect your information. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
