One ‘stop’ reply will no longer silence every text a company sends, the FCC decided

The Federal Communications Commission voted on September 30, 2026 to let companies treat a “stop” text as ending only the category of informational message it answered, rather than every automated call and text from that sender. The order, a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in CG Docket No. 02-278, replaces the “revoke all” treatment that the agency adopted in 2024 for informational robocalls and robotexts.

Marketing messages are carved out. The FCC’s fact sheet for the meeting says a revocation request for advertising or telemarketing still revokes all such future calls and texts from that sender. The change reaches appointment reminders, payment notices, delivery alerts and similar informational traffic, where a person who stops one stream will no longer automatically silence an unrelated one.

Category-specific revocation for informational messages

The FCC fact sheet states that callers may “interpret a revocation request as applying only to the specific category of informational robocalls to which the revocation was directed.” The stated rationale is that a blanket rule can sweep away calls consumers want. A customer who opts out of payment reminders, for example, could otherwise lose fraud alerts from the same bank without meaning to.

TechTimes, reporting on the vote, describes the practical result: appointment reminders, fraud alerts and billing notifications become separate consent categories, and a consumer may need more than one opt-out to stop everything a company sends. It adds that misclassifying promotional content as informational would expose a caller to per-instance liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, in the range of $500 to $1,500 per violation.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, codified at 47 U.S.C. § 227, requires prior express consent for robocalls to residential and wireless numbers, with limited exemptions, and the FCC describes the order as interpreting that existing statutory language rather than creating a new requirement.

Seven keywords and exclusive opt-out channels

The order also lets a caller designate one or more of three exclusive revocation methods: an automated voice or keypress menu, a text reply using standardized words, or a website or phone number. Callers must disclose the designated method clearly on each call or message, and consumers who use some other channel need not be accommodated when a caller has made that choice. The standardized words are “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “revoke,” “opt out,” “cancel” and “unsubscribe.”

The Ecommerce Innovation Alliance, which pressed for the change in filed comments, argued that the prior “any reasonable method” standard has “enabled a tactic where litigants intentionally bypass clear, simple, and automated opt-out” instructions to manufacture lawsuits, according to the alliance’s account of the draft order. The order also gives financial institutions more room to send fraud and security alerts to numbers obtained from reliable sources such as family members authorized on an account, caller ID records or other institutions, within limits of three messages per event over three days.

The 2024 rule and the waiver it replaces

The 2024 rule came from an order adopted February 15, 2024. As summarized in the Federal Register, it allowed revocation “in any reasonable manner,” required callers to honor requests within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days, and extended a text revocation to both robocalls and robotexts from that caller.

Under the 2024 text, a single stop reply ended both robocalls and robotexts from that caller.

One piece of that rule never took full effect. The FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau granted a limited waiver of the requirement that an opt-out to one informational message cover all future robocalls and robotexts on unrelated matters, first from April 11, 2025 and later through January 31, 2027, after financial institutions said compliance would burden systems that span multiple business units. The September 30 order supersedes that January 31, 2027 date: the new rules take effect 30 days after Federal Register publication, which has not yet occurred.

Opposition and the further notice

Consumer Action, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and U.S. PIRG opposed narrowing opt-out rights, according to TechTimes, citing friction and the potential for companies to exploit the category line. The law firm Troutman Pepper Locke, summarizing the order after its circulation, notes that the item was circulated for tentative consideration at the September 30 meeting under the designation FCC-CIRC 2609-05.

The Further Notice asks about cutting the ten-business-day processing deadline to seven days, requiring two-way texting capability, mandating a single “revoke all” mechanism consumers could use to stop all robocalls in one request, and clarifying how affiliates and separate lines of business are treated. Comments are due 30 days after Federal Register publication and replies 60 days after, which leaves open whether the FCC will end up with the universal opt-out that consumer groups wanted.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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