ATLANTA—The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the receipt of a single, unwanted text messages by itself does not violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
This ruling sets the precedent that privacy concerns addressed under the TCPA may not apply to single text messages, NAFCU noted.
In Salcedo v. Hanna, the court held that “[a]ny possible deference to the FCC’s interpretation of the TCPA—the source of its application to text messaging—is not obviously relevant where the Supreme Court has specifically instructed us to consider the judgment of Congress.” This ruling follows the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Spokeo v. Robins, NAFCU noted.
The court also referenced Congress' deference on the applicability of the TCPA to text messages to the FCC, which has applied its existing rules for phone calls to text messages, but has not issued more specific guidance.
In June, the FCC proposed a rulemaking to require phone companies to adopt a call authentication framework. NAFCU, CUNA and several other trade organizations recommended that the agency provide a safe harbor to those that implement a network-wide blocking of calls that fail caller authentication under the framework. NAFCU has also shared concerns about erroneously blocking credit unions' calls to members.