To text leads or customers as a business in the US or Canada, you need a registered number (10DLC or a verified toll-free number), consent before the first text, an opt-out you honor within 10 business days, and sending hours that suit the recipient's time zone. Canada's CASL adds sender identification in every text.
This page collects every rule in one place: federal law and FCC rules, what the courts and the FCC changed in 2025 and 2026, the carriers' own rules, the state laws we read on the statute, and Canada's anti-spam law. Each section links to a longer guide. It summarizes public rules as checked on 2026-10-14. It is not legal advice; ask a lawyer about your own program.
What are the business texting rules, at a glance?
Six rules cover most business texting. The US side comes from the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the FCC's rules under it (47 CFR 64.1200) and carrier guidance. The Canadian side comes from Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).
| Rule | United States | Canada | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered number | 10DLC brand and campaign, or a verified toll-free number | Verified toll-free number is the usual route | 10DLC and toll-free registration |
| Consent | Prior express consent for autodialed texts; prior express written consent for marketing ones (64.1200(a)(1) and (a)(2)); carriers expect an opt-in for every text | Express or implied consent for every commercial text (CASL s. 6(1)) | Opt-in language examples |
| Cold texting | Written consent rule, Do Not Call rules, state laws and carrier rules all apply | No general B2B exemption | Is cold texting legal? |
| Opt-outs | Any reasonable means; honored within 10 business days (64.1200(a)(10)) | Unsubscribe honored within 10 business days (s. 11(3)) | STOP and opt-out rules |
| Hours | 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. recipient time for telephone solicitations (64.1200(c)); some states end at 8 p.m. | CASL sets none | Texting quiet hours |
| Identify yourself | Expected by carriers | Name, contact details and an unsubscribe in every commercial text (s. 6(2)) | CASL text messages |
What changed in 2025 and 2026?
Four changes matter, and many pages online still describe the rules from before them.
| Date | What happened | Status on 2026-10-14 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-01-24 | The Eleventh Circuit struck down the FCC's "one-to-one consent" rule | Final | Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC, 2025 |
| 2025-04-11 | Opt-out by "any reasonable method", honored within 10 business days, took effect | In force | Federal Register, 2024 |
| 2025-06-20 | The Supreme Court held that courts "must independently determine the law's meaning" under the TCPA | Final | McLaughlin Chiropractic v. McKesson, 2025 |
| 2025-08-29 | The FCC deleted the one-to-one consent wording from its rules | In force | Federal Register, 2025 |
| 2026-01-06 | The "revoke all" part of the opt-out rule was delayed to 2027-01-31 | Delayed | FCC DA 26-12, 2026 |
| 2026-09-30 | The FCC adopted FCC 26-67, letting senders name an exclusive opt-out method such as replying STOP | Adopted; takes effect 30 days after Federal Register publication | FCC 26-67, 2026 |
We searched the Federal Register on 2026-10-14 for FCC documents under the TCPA docket (CG Docket 02-278), including documents on public inspection, and found no publication of FCC 26-67. The eCFR's latest amendment to 47 CFR 64.1200 is dated 2026-03-25. Until publication, the current opt-out rule stays in force.
Do business texts need a registered number?
Yes. US carriers expect every business text to come from a registered or verified number. For ordinary 10-digit numbers, that means 10DLC: your texting provider files your brand and your campaign with The Campaign Registry, which describes 10DLC as "an A2P messaging channel in which Brands and Campaign Service Providers (CSPs) are verified" (The Campaign Registry). Businesses can't file on their own: "Currently, direct registration with TCR is not available for Brands."
Toll-free numbers go through toll-free verification before they can text US or Canadian mobiles. Canada has no 10DLC registry, so a verified toll-free number is the usual way to text Canadian customers. Our 10DLC registration guide lists what to prepare and why registrations get sent back.
Registration lets carriers see who is texting and why. Consent is a separate requirement, and the campaign you register has to describe how people opted in.
What consent do you need to text someone in the US?
It depends on the kind of text and how it is sent:
| Text | Federal rule | Carrier guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Informational texts sent with an autodialer (reminders, account updates) | "Prior express consent" (64.1200(a)(1)) | Express permission, on a form, online or verbally |
| Marketing texts sent with an autodialer (offers, sales follow-up) | "Prior express written consent" (64.1200(a)(2)) | Written opt-in, such as a ticked checkbox |
| Replies to someone who texted you first | A reply typed by hand to their message is the lowest-risk case | Conversational: "no additional permission is expected" |
Prior express written consent is "an agreement, in writing, bearing the signature of the person called" that names the phone number and tells the person they are "not required to sign the agreement [...] as a condition of purchasing any property, goods, or services" (64.1200(f)(9)). Electronic signatures count.
Whether a given texting system is an "autodialer" is narrower than it once was. In 2021 the Supreme Court held that a device must be able to "store a telephone number using a random or sequential generator or to produce a telephone number using a random or sequential number generator" (Facebook v. Duguid, 2021). That ruling leaves the Do Not Call rules, state laws, carrier rules and CASL in place, and since the 2025 McLaughlin ruling, courts read the TCPA for themselves. The safe course is to hold consent for every text.
The carriers' industry body puts it plainly: "messages should be sent only after the Consumer has opted-in to receive them" (CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices, 2023). For wording and what to record, see our opt-in language examples. For texting people who never opted in, see is cold texting legal?
What happened to the FCC's one-to-one consent rule?
It is gone. The FCC's 2023 rule would have required consent to be given to one seller at a time, covering only "logically and topically associated" messages. The Eleventh Circuit vacated it on 2025-01-24 (Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC).
The FCC then removed the wording. Its final rule "conforms the Commission's rules to a court decision nullifying the first full paragraph of the revised prior express written consent rule", published and effective 2025-08-29 (90 FR 42137, 2025). The current eCFR text has no one-to-one wording (checked 2026-10-14).
The older written-consent rule still applies, and carriers still expect consent to stay with the business that collected it: an opt-in "should apply only to the campaign(s) and specific Message Sender for which it was intended or obtained" (CTIA, section 5.1.2.2). Lead lists bought from a comparison site or data vendor remain a poor basis for texting.
How do opt-outs work under the current FCC rules?
A person may revoke consent "by using any reasonable method to clearly express a desire not to receive further calls or text messages" (64.1200(a)(10), in force since 2025-04-11). Replying "stop," "quit," "end," "revoke," "opt out," "cancel," or "unsubscribe" is "a reasonable means per se". Other wording counts "if a reasonable person would understand those words to have conveyed a request to revoke consent".
Three more points from the same rule:
- Ten business days at most. Requests "must be honored within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days from receipt".
- No exclusive method, for now. Senders "may not designate an exclusive means to request revocation of consent." FCC 26-67 will change this once it takes effect.
- One confirmation text is allowed if it "merely confirms" the request, carries no marketing, and "is the only additional message sent" (64.1200(a)(12)). Sent within five minutes, it is presumed to be within the person's consent.
Our STOP and opt-out rules guide covers each of these with examples, plus HELP replies and French opt-outs.
What does FCC 26-67 change?
FCC 26-67 lets a sender name an exclusive way to revoke consent. Adopted 2026-09-30 and released 2026-10-01, its new rule text says: "Callers may designate any of the following methods as the exclusive means to revoke consent", including "replying to an incoming text message with any one of the following standardized words: 'stop,' 'quit,' 'end,' 'revoke,' 'opt out,' 'cancel,' or 'unsubscribe'" (FCC 26-67, 2026).
| Topic | Today (in force) | Under FCC 26-67 (adopted, not yet in force) |
|---|---|---|
| How people can opt out | Any reasonable means | Any reasonable means, unless you designate an exclusive method and disclose it |
| Disclosure | Not required for this purpose | Each text names at least one standardized word, such as STOP |
| Deadline | 10 business days | 10 business days (the FCC asks whether to shorten it; one proposal is 7) |
| Scope of an opt-out | "Revoke all" piece delayed to 2027-01-31 | An opt-out from marketing texts covers all marketing from that sender; an opt-out from one kind of informational text may cover only that kind |
| Takes effect | 2025-04-11 | 30 days after Federal Register publication (not published as of 2026-10-14) |
Even with an exclusive method, a sender who uses the reply-text route must treat all seven standardized words as opt-outs, and carriers' guidance still asks senders to act on normal-language requests.
What do the carriers' rules add?
Carriers enforce their own rules through registration, filtering and blocking. CTIA's Messaging Principles and Best Practices (May 2023, the newest edition we found) ask senders to:
- Get an opt-in first, at the level the text needs: conversational, informational or promotional.
- Keep records. Consent should be documented and opt-ins and opt-outs retained "in their records to ensure that future messages are not attempted" (section 5.1.5).
- Skip bought lists. "Message Senders should not use opt-in lists that have been rented, sold, or shared to send messages" (section 5.1.4).
- Confirm the opt-in with the program name, help contact, how to opt out, message frequency and "any associated fees or charges" (section 5.1.2.1).
- Honor opt-outs in normal language and send "one final opt-out confirmation message per campaign" (section 5.1.3).
- Avoid snowshoeing, which CTIA describes as a "technique used to spread messages across many sending phone numbers".
- Avoid restricted content. CTIA's short code handbook lists "SHAFT (sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, or tobacco), gambling, and sweepstakes and contests" as prohibited or subject to extra carrier requirements (CTIA Short Code Monitoring Handbook v1.9, 2023).
What hours can businesses send texts?
Federal rules bar telephone solicitations "before the hour of 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. (local time at the called party's location)" (64.1200(c)(1)), and apply that to "text messages to wireless telephone numbers" (64.1200(e)). Some states are stricter:
| Where | Hours (recipient's local time) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US, federal | 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. | 64.1200(c) |
| Florida, Oklahoma, Maryland | 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., at most three attempts in 24 hours on one subject | Fla. Stat. 501.616; Okla. HB 3168, 2022; Md. Com. Law 14-4502 |
| Connecticut | 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. | Conn. Gen. Stat. 42-288a |
| Canada | CASL sets none; the CRTC's telemarketing rules use 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends | CRTC rules (archived 2026) |
Weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the recipient's time zone fit every limit in this table. Our texting quiet hours guide quotes each statute, lists the states we have not checked, and shows how to set sending hours across time zones.
Does the Do Not Call list apply to texts?
Yes, for sales texts. The federal rules bar telephone solicitations to residential numbers on the national Do Not Call registry (64.1200(c)(2)) and apply that to texts to mobile numbers (64.1200(e)). A "telephone solicitation" excludes messages to people who gave "prior express invitation or permission" and to people with an "established business relationship", meaning a purchase or transaction in the last 18 months or an inquiry in the last three (64.1200(f)(5) and (f)(15)).
Businesses that telemarket must also keep their own do-not-call list, honor a request within "ten (10) business days", and keep honoring it "for 5 years from the time the request is made" (64.1200(d)(3) and (d)(6)).
Which state laws add to the federal rules?
Several states have their own telemarketing and texting laws. These are the ones we read on the statute itself:
| State | What it adds | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | A "telephonic sales call" includes a "text message"; autodialed ones need prior express written consent. People can sue for $500 per violation, after first replying STOP and waiting 15 days | Fla. Stat. 501.059 |
| Oklahoma | Written consent for automated sales calls "by telephone call, text message, or voicemail transmission"; in force since 2022-11-01 | HB 3168, 2022 |
| Maryland | Written consent for automated telephone solicitations, with consent defined to cover solicitations "by telephone call, text message, or voicemail"; in force since 2024-01-01; a narrow B2B exemption from the consent part | Md. Com. Law 14-4502 |
| Washington | No commercial text to a Washington resident's mobile unless the person "clearly and affirmatively consented in advance" | RCW 19.190.060, 19.190.070 |
| Connecticut | Telephonic sales calls, defined to include "text or media messaging", only from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. | Conn. Gen. Stat. 42-284 and 42-288a |
Florida's rules are written around consumer goods or services, meaning those bought mainly for personal, family or household use, and Maryland exempts some business-to-business sales from its consent rule. Whether each state's rules reach your texts is a question for a lawyer. Other states, including Texas, Utah, New Jersey, Georgia and Arizona, appear in texting-law lists online; we haven't read those statutes, so check them with counsel before texting their residents.
What rules apply to texting Canadians?
CASL applies to texts: an "electronic message" includes "a text, sound, voice or image message", and an "electronic address" includes "a telephone account" (s. 1(1)). A commercial text needs:
- Consent, express or implied (s. 6(1)). Implied consent lasts two years after a purchase and six months after an inquiry (s. 10(10)).
- Your identity and contact details, valid for at least 60 days (s. 6(2) and (3)).
- An unsubscribe mechanism that works by "the same electronic means by which the message was sent" and takes effect "without delay, and in any event no later than 10 business days" (s. 11).
CASL reaches US senders whose texts are received on phones in Canada (s. 12(1)). Canada's short code rules make STOP and ARRET mandatory opt-out words and say ARRET "must return a French response" (Canadian Common Short Codes Compliance Policies v2.1, 2026); treating ARRET as STOP on every number is the simple choice for Quebec and the rest of Canada. The National Do Not Call List was written for telemarketing calls, and in 2008 the CRTC declined to widen a review of it to text messages (CRTC letter, 2008). Our CASL guide reads the Act section by section.
Related: how to text customers in Canada.
What are the penalties?
| Law | Maximum | Source |
|---|---|---|
| TCPA, autodialer and consent rules | "$500 in damages for each such violation", up to three times that if willful or knowing | 47 U.S.C. 227(b)(3) |
| TCPA, Do Not Call rules | Up to $500 per call after "more than one telephone call within any 12-month period", up to three times if willful | 47 U.S.C. 227(c)(5) |
| Florida | $500 per violation, or actual damages if higher, up to three times if willful | Fla. Stat. 501.059(10) |
| CASL | "$1,000,000 in the case of an individual, and $10,000,000 in the case of any other person" per violation | CASL s. 20(4) |
Carriers can also filter texts or suspend numbers that draw complaints, which can stop a texting program faster than any lawsuit.
Where does Textually fit?
Textually is built around these rules. We register your numbers: a 10DLC brand and campaign for US recipients and toll-free verification for Canadian ones. A text step sends only when the lead has a consent record (source and date) or the campaign has a campaign-wide confirmation that everyone agreed, and you tick a consent statement, stored with its wording, at list import, at Push to campaign and at launch. Each text carries the registered line "Msg frequency varies. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help." until the person replies. STOP, STOPALL, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, OPTOUT, OPT-OUT, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE and ARRET, sent as the whole reply in any capitalization, stop texts to that person before the next send, and HELP returns your business name and how to reach you. Sending days and hours are set per campaign. See the short summary of how the rules are built in, our pricing, or apply for access.
Questions
Is the FCC one-to-one consent rule in effect in 2026?
No. The Eleventh Circuit vacated it on 2025-01-24, and the FCC removed it from its rules on 2025-08-29. The long-standing rule still applies: autodialed marketing texts need prior express written consent from the person texted.
What is the new FCC opt-out rule adopted in September 2026?
FCC 26-67, adopted 2026-09-30, lets senders make replying with a standard word such as STOP the exclusive way to opt out, if each text discloses it. It takes effect 30 days after Federal Register publication, which had not happened as of 2026-10-14.
How long do businesses have to honor a STOP text?
At most 10 business days under the FCC rules (47 CFR 64.1200(a)(10)) and under CASL (s. 11(3)). Carriers' guidance expects no further messages after one confirmation, so stopping before the next scheduled text is the safe practice.
Do texting rules apply to B2B texts?
Mostly yes. The federal autodialer rule covers any mobile number, carriers draw no B2B line, and CASL has no general B2B exemption. Some state laws are limited to consumer goods or services, and Maryland exempts some B2B sales from its consent rule.
What time can a business send text messages?
Between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the recipient's time zone under federal rules for telephone solicitations, and until 8 p.m. in Florida, Oklahoma, Maryland and Connecticut, which also starts at 9 a.m. Weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time fit all of them.
Do I need to register to send business texts?
Yes, to send from US 10-digit numbers: your texting provider registers your brand and campaign for 10DLC. Toll-free numbers need toll-free verification, which is also the usual way to reach Canadian mobiles.
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