A federal court in Pennsylvania has ruled that text messages qualify as “telephone calls” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s National Do Not Call Registry provisions.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued the decision on June 17, 2026, denying a motion to dismiss filed by Brown-Daub Chevrolet of Nazareth.
The case, Pero v. Brown-Daub Chevrolet of Nazareth, centres on whether a text message constitutes a “telephone call” under Section 227(c) of the TCPA.
The plaintiff alleged she registered her number on the National Do Not Call Registry in 2021 and provided the dealership with her number in October 2024 to receive truck sales information.
After later opting out of texts, she claimed she received six unwanted messages from the dealership between January 8 and March 28, 2025.
The court’s analysis focused on Section 227(a)(4), which defines “telephone solicitation” as the initiation of a “telephone call or message” for telemarketing purposes.
Although text messages did not exist when Congress originally enacted the TCPA, the court found that Congress “intended to prohibit more than solicitations by telephone” because it also used the phrase “by message.”
Applying ordinary meaning, the court concluded that a text message is “a communication (message) transmitted by a telephone,” placing it firmly within the statute’s scope.
The court also gave “considerable weight” to the FCC’s interpretation, noting the agency’s 2024 clarification that National Do Not Call Registry protections extend to text messages.
Considering the statutory language, FCC rules, and the “overwhelming majority of courts,” the ruling determined that texts are calls under Section 227(c).
The decision arrives in a legally significant context following the Supreme Court’s abolition of Chevron deference, which requires courts to exercise independent judgment rather than automatically defer to agency interpretations.
Despite that shift, the court emphasised that agency interpretations may still deserve respect as the product of “a body of experience and informed judgment,” particularly where Congress delegated implementation authority to the FCC.
For businesses running SMS marketing campaigns, the ruling signals that texts sent to numbers listed on the National Do Not Call Registry will be treated as regulated telemarketing contacts subject to TCPA liability.
Companies are being advised to confirm required consent, ensure opt-out requests are honoured durably across all systems and personnel, and review existing SMS campaign practices in light of the judgment.
The decision also suggests that post-Loper Bright challenges to FCC TCPA interpretations may face significant headwinds where the agency’s position aligns with statutory text and the weight of judicial authority.