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Eight days ago I received a fundraising message via SMS. It included the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's "reply STOP to opt out" disclaimer. I replied "STOP" and received an acknowledgment. Today I received another fundraising SMS message from the same political campaign. Is this a violation of the TCPA?

It seemed clear-cut to me, so I looked up how to report violations, and instead of that I found articles from 2025 which seemed to suggest that the Roberts Court has eviscerated TCPA (which I confess is not surprising in the least).

So I guess I don't know what the law is, or whether this is a violation of it.

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  • Was it the same phone number texting you, or a different one from the same campaign? I can't find the article right now, but I remembered seeing something saying that if it's individual volunteers texting, other volunteers in the same group can still text you after you sent STOP to the first one, though I don't know how accurate that is, legally Commented yesterday
  • Perhaps the Flag Code (4 U.S.C. § 5 et seq, which I know is voluntary) is the only less enforceable law than the TCPA. I've had better results blocking numbers on my phone than reporting per the TCPA, which I did for years without substantial benefit. Commented yesterday
  • @reffu Two separate numbers. I have worried that the law has that loophole, but I don't recall ever seeing any authoritative statement on the matter. Here's hoping someone sets us straight on that point. Commented yesterday

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Political calls are not exempt from the TCPA.

The possibility of political campaigns facing TCPA lawsuits is not purely hypothetical. President Donald Trump has seen both of his presidential campaigns sued for text messages that allegedly violated the TCPA. Recently, his re-election had to shut down its entire texting operation due to anti-spam measures employed by telephone carriers. It is not a partisan issue, either, as the 2020 primary campaign for Bernie Sanders also faces a TCPA lawsuit. And the risks extend beyond the scope of massive, national campaigns as a state legislator in Georgia has been sued for TCPA violations allegedly committed in service of her congressional campaign.

The FCC says, specifically about political campaigns:

for calls and texts that require consent, the caller must honor the called party's request to revoke consent. The called party can revoke consent at any time and in any reasonable manner, such as replying "stop" to a text or asking not to be called again on a voice call.

Avenues for redress include:

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Apparently different courts are divided as to whether TCPA even covers text messages as if they were unsolicited phone calls.

With the Supreme Court's 2024 ending of Chevron deference the FCC's guidance no longer determines this. Congress has amended the TCPA on other points but not to resolve this issue.

So perhaps nobody knows what the law is or whether this is a violation of it.

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    That uncertainty relates to the interplay between unsolicited calls and the Do Not Call registry. This question though is about the unambiguous "STOP" sent to the sender, which everyone agrees is an avenue for indicating non-consent to future unsolicited text messages. Commented 2 days ago
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    @Jen My reading is that the only explicit provision of the TCPA as amended relating to "text messages" or SMS is about caller identification. Its other provisions on messages look as if they might be interpreted as being restricted to pre-recorded voice messages or faxes, or might be interpreted more broadly. So sending text messages despite explicit non-consent might not be a violation. Commented 2 days ago
  • Okay, I can see that. I will assess and maybe edit my answer to acknowledge this uncertainty. Commented 2 days ago
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No

The Act does not apply to tax-exempt non-profit organisations like political campaigns. Express your displeasure at the ballot box.

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    irs.gov/charities-non-profits/political-organizations/… "A political organization is subject to tax on its political organization taxable income. ... The political organization taxable income equals its gross income (excluding exempt function income) less deductions allowed by the Code that are directly connected with producing gross income." Commented 2 days ago
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    @phoog: But "exempt function income", if you look it up, covers practically all the income of a typical political campaign: all income from contributions, fundraisers, and sale of campaign materials, that is then set aside for the purposes of influencing a candidate's election. Commented 2 days ago
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    Also, irs.gov/charities-non-profits/exempt-organization-types clearly shows political organizations in the category of "exempt organizations", along with charities, etc. Incidentally, charities have a similar rule that they're liable for income tax on their unrelated business income. Commented 2 days ago
  • Express that you will show your displeasure at the ballot box. "I vote against spammers" is more likely to make the messages cease than "STOP". Commented 15 hours ago
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    @BenVoigt Those texting campaigns are generally semi-automated, and responses generally don't get relayed or recorded, there's just someone sitting on the other end for the first hour or so that may or may not respond directly to questions, marks if someone was interested or not interested, and for a campaign that does follow TCPA, marks "remove from list" when someone indicates as such. Sending any reply in a text almost certainly won't have any impact on the campaign's operations, it'd be better and more likely to make an impact if you reach out to the campaign directly. Commented 14 hours ago

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