Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the principal US federal statute governing telemarketing calls and SMS. For review-solicitation and customer-feedback SMS, the central requirement is "prior express written consent" before sending a marketing message to a US wireless number using any automated dialing system — which most modern messaging platforms are considered to use.

Valid consent has four elements:

• Clear and conspicuous disclosure in the consent surface — sender, purpose, frequency, "Msg & data rates may apply," STOP to opt out, HELP for help.
• Signed by the consumer — a checked checkbox satisfies this. Pre-checked checkboxes don't count.
• Specific to the sender — consent to one brand doesn't transfer to an affiliated brand without separate consent. This is sometimes called the FCC's "1-to-1 consent rule."
• Specific to the wireless number the consumer provided.

Penalties: $500 per call/text in negligent violations, up to $1,500 per call/text in willful violations. Class actions are common, and damages can reach millions.

How Vouch handles TCPA: the standard Vouch SMS opt-in surface is unchecked-by-default, includes all required disclosures, and records the consent state plus timestamp, IP, and user agent as evidence. The audit log is available to carriers and regulators on request.

For the full picture on messaging compliance — TCPA, CAN-SPAM, GDPR, ePrivacy, CASL, and the FTC fake-review rule — see our Acceptable Use Policy.