Proposed FCC rule would eliminate the right to tell robocallers to stop calling
WASHINGTON – A new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plan would allow unwanted telephone calls to surge even higher by stripping people of the critical right to tell robocallers to “stop calling.”
On October 28, the FCC will meet to discuss taking an axe to two important protections from unwanted and intrusive robocalls and telemarketing. U.S. telephone subscribers already receive more than 2.5 billion robocalls a month.
“The right to tell robocallers to stop calling, and hold them accountable in court when they don’t, is a critical line of defense against the onslaught of unwanted robocalls,” said Patrick Crotty, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC). “The FCC’s proposal threatens to strip away that right, opening the floodgates to hordes of unwanted robocalls.”
The FCC has proposed repealing the existing requirement that businesses stop robocalls and telemarketing calls when asked to do so. Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), businesses that don’t stop robocalling when asked can be forced in court to pay up to $1,500 for each illegal call. Companies are required to keep a list of numbers they were told not to call – the company-specific do-not-call (DNC) list – and refrain from calling them.
The FCC claims that the rule isn’t needed because other rules limit some robocalls. However, those other rules have huge gaps, and, for example, without the company-specific DNC rule, any company a person bought anything from in the previous 18 months would be free to make telemarketing calls as often as it wanted.
“Simply buying something from a business shouldn’t subject people to 18 months of unstoppable telemarketing calls from that business,” said Margot Saunders, senior attorney at NCLC. “Despite its obligation to reduce unwanted robocalls and telemarketing, the FCC is proposing to let robocallers call without consequence and leave people powerless to stop them.”
The proposal would also end a requirement that prerecorded calls to cell phones include a simple, automated way to opt out of receiving calls.
Last week, a coalition of national consumer groups urged the FCC to back off its proposal to eliminate these key protections against unwanted robocalls, calling the proposed changes “misdirected” and warning that they would lead to more intrusive calls.
Related Resources
- FCC Fact Sheet: Call Branding FNPRM: Improving Verification and Presentation of Caller Identification Information, October 7, 2025
- Strategies for Reducing Scam Calls and Texts by Holding VoIP Providers Accountable, September 30, 2025
- Advocates to FCC: Don’t ‘Delete’ Protections Against Unwanted Robocalls and Texts, April 29, 2025
- Scam Robocalls: Telecom Providers Profit, June 1, 2022
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