Seventh Circuit Holds Text Messages Outside TCPA Do-Not-Call Scope
In-house counsel overseeing marketing, compliance, and TCPA risk management for businesses that send consumer text messages must note the first federal appellate ruling following the Supreme Court’s administrative deference shift eliminates private Do-Not-Call claims for texts under a core TCPA provision, drastically reducing potential class action liability for text-based outreach.
On July 14, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued the first federal appellate decision applying the Supreme Court’s 2025 McLaughlin Chiropractic ruling to hold that text messages are not “telephone calls” under Section 227(c)(5) of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the provision that authorizes private Do-Not-Call claims. The court based its ruling on the statute’s plain text, which does not define “telephone call” to include text messages, and Congress’s deliberate choice to amend other TCPA sections to expressly cover texts while leaving Section 227(c)(5) unchanged. The decision creates binding precedent for businesses facing Section 227(c)(5) text message claims in the Seventh Circuit, and bolsters similar statutory interpretation arguments in other jurisdictions, while leaving other TCPA provisions and state-level text messaging telemarketing laws fully intact.