What is an automated text message?

An automated text message is a text message sent to a consumer or consumers through the use of an automated text messaging platform. Regardless of whether the message itself is manually or automatically generated, it is treated as an automated text message if an autodialer platform is used to deliver the message.

The courts have been unanimous in the viewpoint that a call is a text and a text is a call. Automated text messages should be treated exactly like calls placed using an autodialer and the same consent rules should be observed.

Even after the Supreme Court's ruling in Facebook v. Duguid, the TCPA's regulations on automated text messages stand. While SCOTUS's decision to adopt the narrow definition of what constitutes an ATDS may well exclude most (or possibly all) current text messaging systems from being considered autodialers, the restrictions on automatic texting still exist.