Recent interpretations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or “Commission”) make it increasingly clear that outbound calling platform providers are now squarely in the crosshairs of regulators and plaintiff’s attorneys.  The clarified regulations materially broaden the scope of the FCC’s restrictions on the use of auto-dialers and subject outbound calling platform providers to potentially significant exposure to reputational and economic liability, both in terms of fines and civil damages. As we noted in June, the FCC continues to step up its enforcement of the TCPA against calling platforms in light of the Commission’s inability to stop unwanted robocalls at the source, namely by stopping illegal robocalling operators.

The Commission also issued a Declaratory Ruling and Order in June that clarified just how expansively the FCC views its authority under the TCPA. Specifically, the Commission declared that the definition of an automatic telephone dialing system, known as an autodialer, broadly includes dialing equipment that has the current or future ability to store or generate numbers randomly or sequentially and to dial those numbers. Therefore, most, if not all, calling platforms could be considered autodialers under the TCPA. Furthermore, if the FCC (or a Court) determines a calling platform provider is sufficiently involved in its telemarketing customers’ calling process, the calling platform provider could be subject to TCPA liability for the unlawful calling practices of its customers.

The expansion of the TCPA’s scope to now cover the activities of outbound calling platform providers is just one of many important “clarifications” of law recently announced by the FCC.  To help clients understand the full impact of the FCC’s TCPA regulations and implement measures to mitigate the risks associated therewith, all while preserving revenue opportunities, our firm prepared a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of the FCC’s Declaratory Ruling and Order and our TCPA attorneys are standing by to assist affected clients.

In the interests of ensuring all impacted clients gain access to the help they need at affordable costs, we invite you to take advantage of the following options:

Click here for a sample of the TCPA Clarification Memo.

Please contact Nate Hardy: njh@commlawgroup.com – 703-714-1322 or Seth Williams: slw@commlawgroup.com – 703-714-1326 if you would like to take advantage of one of these opportunities to get up to speed on the rules and begin the process of making necessary accommodations to mitigate economic risks with the assistance of our experienced and pragmatic TCPA practitioners.