The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a denial of a petition from a company that provides bulk marketing texts for other companies, clarified that it will maintain separate standards for fax and text messaging senders when looking to investigate and enforce violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). In essence, the FCC stated that the TCPA standards are sufficient to protect texters that may be accused of robocalling.

A text marketing broker asked the FCC to declare that it was not the “sender” of the text if it was merely acting as a neutral conduit. The FCC responded by stating that it depends on the circumstances, and the FCC will look at each case on a case by case basis, and that it will look “at the totality of circumstances” to determine whether the sender of a text is liable under the TCPA.

Short message? The TCPA continues to be a high risk area that companies may wish to follow closely, particularly in the marketing arena.