TCPA explained for prospecting: what needs consent

What the TCPA regulates

The TCPA regulates three things: calls and texts made with an autodialer, calls made with an artificial or prerecorded voice, and telephone solicitations to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. Congress wrote it in 1991. The statute is 47 U.S.C. 227. The FCC's implementing rules are in 47 CFR 64.1200.

The three rules work separately.

1. Autodialer calls and texts. Section 227(b)(1)(A) bars any non-emergency call to a cell phone using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice, unless the caller has the called party's prior express consent. For marketing, the FCC rule at 64.1200(a)(2) raises that to prior express written consent.
2. Prerecorded or artificial voice. Section 227(b)(1)(B) applies the same consent rule to residential landlines. A prerecorded marketing call to a landline also needs prior express written consent under 64.1200(a)(3).
3. Do Not Call. Rule 64.1200(c) bars telephone solicitations to registered numbers and outside 8am to 9pm local time. No autodialer is needed for this rule to apply.

State laws sit on top of all three. See cold calling laws by state for the state layer.

What counts as an autodialer after Duguid

An autodialer is equipment that can store or produce numbers using a random or sequential number generator and dial them. The Supreme Court set that test in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid on 04/01/2021. It held unanimously that a device must use a random or sequential number generator to qualify. The statutory text is at 227(a)(1).

The ruling cut the reach of the autodialer rule. Equipment that only stores a list and dials it falls outside the federal definition. The Court noted that the broader reading would cover nearly every modern cell phone.

Three limits keep Duguid from being a safe harbor.

• The prerecorded and artificial-voice rules never depended on autodialer status.
• The Do Not Call rules never depended on it either.
• State laws can reach further. Florida requires written consent for telephonic sales calls and texts made with "an automated system for the selection and dialing of telephone numbers," with no random or sequential test (Fla. Stat. 501.059).

Treat the federal definition as the floor and plan around the strictest state you call into.

Prior express consent versus prior express written consent

Prior express consent is permission the person gave, in any form, to be contacted at that number. It covers informational and non-marketing robocalls. Prior express written consent is a signed agreement that clearly authorizes the seller to send advertisements or telemarketing messages by autodialer or prerecorded voice, and names the number. The FCC defines it at 64.1200(f)(9).

The agreement must disclose that signing authorizes autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing calls, and that signing is not required as a condition of buying anything. An electronic signature counts to the extent federal law or state contract law recognizes it as valid.

Type	Covers	Where it comes from
Prior express consent	Non-marketing autodialed or prerecorded calls and texts to a cell phone	47 U.S.C. 227(b)(1)(A)
Prior express written consent	Marketing or telemarketing autodialed, prerecorded or artificial-voice calls and texts	47 CFR 64.1200(a)(2), (a)(3), (f)(9)

Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC vacated only Part III.D of the FCC's 2023 order. The 2012 written-consent rule in 64.1200(a)(2) and (a)(3) was not part of that ruling and remains in the CFR.

What each prospecting action needs

Each action needs the consent below under the federal rules. The Do Not Call and calling-hours rules apply to every row that is a telephone solicitation.

Action	Federal consent needed	Cite
Manual live call to a landline	None. Check the registry and the 8am to 9pm window	47 CFR 64.1200(c)
Manual live call to a mobile	None under 227(b) if no autodialer and no prerecorded voice. Registry and hours rules still apply	47 U.S.C. 227(b)(1)(A); 64.1200(c)
Autodialed call to a mobile	Prior express written consent for marketing, if the equipment meets the Duguid definition	64.1200(a)(2); 227(a)(1)
Marketing text	Prior express written consent if sent with an autodialer. The FCC treats an autodialed text as a call; whether a platform is an autodialer turns on Duguid, so written consent is the safe practice. Registry and hours rules apply either way	64.1200(a)(2), (e); FCC 24-24 note 2
Ringless voicemail or prerecorded message to a mobile	Prior express written consent	64.1200(a)(2)
Prerecorded or AI-voice call to a landline	Prior express written consent	64.1200(a)(3)

On ringless voicemail, see ringless voicemail rules. On texting, see SMS marketing rules and 10DLC.

What changed in the last 24 months

Four things changed, and one was reversed.

• 01/24/2025. The Eleventh Circuit vacated the FCC's one-to-one consent rule in Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC. That rule would have limited each consent to one seller at a time, and to calls "logically and topically associated with the interaction that prompted the consent." The court held that both limits conflicted with the ordinary statutory meaning of "prior express consent" and vacated them. The rule never took effect.
• 04/11/2025. The FCC's revocation rules took effect. Callers must honor revocation by any reasonable method within 10 business days, and a reply of stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel or unsubscribe is revocation per se. A single confirming text is allowed if it adds no marketing (64.1200(a)(12)).
• 06/20/2025. The Supreme Court held in McLaughlin Chiropractic v. McKesson that the Hobbs Act does not bind district courts to the FCC's reading of the TCPA in civil enforcement cases. Courts must interpret the statute themselves while giving the agency's view "appropriate respect." FCC rulings cited on this page are persuasive in court, not binding.
• 01/06/2026. The FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, in Order DA 26-12, extended its waiver of the "revoke-all" part of 64.1200(a)(10) to 01/31/2027. That part would make a stop request in reply to one type of informational message apply to all future robocalls and robotexts from the caller on unrelated matters. The FCC asked for comment on changing it on 10/29/2025.

The AI-voice ruling is older but still current. The FCC ruled on 02/08/2024 that the TCPA's "artificial or prerecorded voice" covers current AI technology that generates human voices. Calls using it require prior express consent. For marketing, that means written consent. More on the stop rules: consent revocation rules.

The single policy that clears all of it

One policy works across the federal rules and the strictest states.

• Dial by hand, live voice, for cold outreach to numbers without consent. Do not use prerecorded, ringless or AI-voice tools on them.
• Scrub against the National Do Not Call Registry using a version no more than 31 days old, the interval in the 64.1200(c)(2)(i)(D) safe harbor, and keep your own internal list.
• Call between 9am and 8pm in the prospect's time zone. That is tighter than the federal 8am to 9pm window.
• Send marketing texts and prerecorded messages only after a signed, written consent that names your company and the number.
• Keep each consent record: the text shown, the timestamp, the number and how it was given.
• Honor a stop request the same day, through any channel the person used.
• Use homeowner counts to size the audience you can reach with consent before you buy anything.

Penalty exposure

A private plaintiff can recover $500 per violation of the robocall rules, or actual loss if greater. A court may raise that to up to 3 times the amount, $1,500, for willful or knowing violations. This is in 47 U.S.C. 227(b)(3). It applies per call or text.

The Do Not Call private action in 227(c)(5) requires more than one call within 12 months by or on behalf of the same entity. It allows up to $500 per violation, with the same trebling for willful or knowing violations. It also gives an affirmative defense to a caller that kept reasonable practices and procedures, with due care, to prevent violations.

The statute also lets state attorneys general sue for the same $500 per violation, trebled if willful or knowing (227(g)). The FCC can assess forfeitures under 227(b)(4), in the amounts set by 47 U.S.C. 503(b)(2), plus an additional penalty of up to $10,000 for a violation made with intent. The "$10,000 per violation, $1,000,000 cap" figures in the statute belong to the caller ID spoofing rule in 227(e)(5), not to robocall or Do Not Call violations.

Messages sent without consent	At $500	At $1,500 (willful)
100	$50,000	$150,000
1,000	$500,000	$1,500,000
10,000	$5,000,000	$15,000,000

Class actions multiply these figures across every recipient. The arithmetic is messages times the per-violation amount. For more, see telemarketing penalties.

Sources and review

Every statute and rule above links to the primary text. Operating guides: cold calling prospecting and SMS text prospecting. The hub for this section is compliance.

This page is a plain-English summary with sources, not legal advice. Last reviewed 10/10/2026.

Next step

To see how many reachable owners sit in your market before you plan outreach, request counts for your zip codes.

Questions people ask

Q01Is a manually dialed cold call covered by the TCPA?

Yes, but lightly. The autodialer and prerecorded-voice limits do not apply to a human dialing a live call. The Do Not Call rules and the 8am to 9pm window in 47 CFR 64.1200(c) still apply, along with state laws.

Q02Does a text message count as a call under the TCPA?

A text sent using an autodialer does. The FCC says so in its 02/16/2024 order (FCC 24-24, note 2). Whether a given texting platform is an autodialer depends on the Duguid test. Separately, 47 CFR 64.1200(e) extends the Do Not Call and calling-hours rules to telephone solicitation texts to wireless numbers.

Q03What counts as an autodialer after Duguid?

Equipment that stores or produces numbers using a random or sequential number generator, and dials them. Ordinary click-to-dial and list-based tools usually do not meet that test, but prerecorded-voice rules and state laws apply anyway.

Q04Are AI voice agents covered by the TCPA?

Yes. The FCC ruled on 02/08/2024 that voices generated by AI are artificial voices under the TCPA. An AI agent placing marketing calls to cell phones needs prior express written consent first.

Q05Who besides the person called can enforce the TCPA?

State attorneys general can sue over a pattern of violations for $500 per violation, trebled if willful or knowing (47 U.S.C. 227(g)). The FCC can impose forfeitures under 227(b)(4), with an added penalty of up to $10,000 per intentional violation.

Sources

1. 47 U.S.C. 227, Restrictions on use of telephone equipment (definitions, 227(b), 227(c), damages)law.cornell.edu
2. 47 CFR 64.1200, Delivery restrictions (consent definition, hours, DNC, revocation)law.cornell.edu
3. Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, 592 U.S. 395 (04/01/2021) (autodialer definition)law.cornell.edu
4. Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC, No. 24-10277 (11th Cir. 01/24/2025) (vacated the one-to-one consent rule)media.ca11.uscourts.gov
5. FCC 24-17, Declaratory Ruling on AI voices (02/08/2024)docs.fcc.gov
6. FCC 24-24, Report and Order on revocation of consent (02/16/2024) (note 2: an autodialed text is a call)docs.fcc.gov
7. FCC DA 26-12, Order extending the revoke-all waiver (01/06/2026)docs.fcc.gov
8. Fla. Stat. 501.059, Telephone solicitationleg.state.fl.us
9. McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson Corp., No. 23-1226 (06/20/2025)law.cornell.edu