United States of America: Adopted FCC Rule concerning robocalls and robotexts (FCC 23-107)

On 13 December 2023, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a rule to combat unlawful robocalls and robotexts. Service providers will be required to block all texts from numbers identified by the FCC as sources of illegal texts. The "National Do-Not-Call Registry" is extended to text messages, requiring prior express consent for marketing texts to numbers on the registry. The FCC recommends that providers offer email-to-text as an opt-in service to reduce fraudulent texts. In order to close the "Lead Generator Loophole", the FCC wants to establish that consent for robocalls and robotexts must be obtained for each seller individually, preventing multiple unsolicited contacts from a single consumer consent. The rule will enter into force 6 months following its publication in the Federal Register.