TEXTS AREN’T CALLS!: Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Holds Definitively Text Messages Are Not Telephone Calls for TCPA DNC Purposes– And Now the Whole Nation Will Take Notice

TCPAWorld has been following the story from the start– text messages may no longer be covered by the TCPA following a recent Supreme Court ruling setting aside much of the FCC’s work on the subject.

Courts are now free to decide on their own whether SMS Messages are entitled to DNC protection– and yesterday the influential Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held yesterday that text messages do not count as “telephone calls” that are prevented by DNC list registration.

In Stenindingr v. Blackstone Medical Services, 2026 WL 2028517 (7th Cir. July 14, 2026) Plaintiff sued Blackstone alleging receipt of unwanted solicitation text messages. Plaintiff alleged her number is on the National DNC registry and sued in a TCPA class action seeking up to $1,500.00 per SMS.

On appeal the court needed to determine whether a party can sue for unwanted SMS messages or only for traditional voice calls. At issue is the TCPA language authorizing suit for “telephone calls” that violate the TCPA’s DNC rules– but is an SMS a telephone call?

The Seventh Circuit held it is not looking at the plain meaning of the phrase– a telephone call was understood back in 1991 to mean a voice communication by phone, not an SMS communication (since those did not exist until the following year.)

Equally helpful the Court (correctly) noted different language in the TCPA that defines a “telephone solicitation” to include a call or message. But the private right of action does not allow suit for receipt of an unlawful solicitation– only an unlawful telephone call. This distinction is critical– because Congress used different language in the private right of action it must mean it intended lawsuits only for receipt of unlawful calls and not messages– like an SMS.

At bottom the court held there is no private right of action under the TCPA’s DNC provisions but agencies can still sue you for illegal SMS messages violating the DNC ules:

Repeated, unwanted text messages are undoubtedly a nuisance. But they do not fall within the private right of action created by
§ 227(c)(5). Instead, spam messages may be curbed through agency action pursuant to other provisions of § 227, which we leave
undisturbed. The district court’s rejection of the plaintiffs’ TCPA claims was appropriate, as was its dismissal of the present suit.

Take aways:

1. This ruling is not binding across the nation but this is a VERY big indicator that courts will throw out DNC SMS cases since this is the first appellate court decision to directly look at this issue;
2. The ruling is well reasoned and analytically sound–I think other courts will follow it;
3. Manual SMS solicitations may now be legal in your jurisdiction but make sure to consult with an attorney as the reach of the case is geographically limited and state laws may still impact your campaigns;
4. Automated SMS campaigns may still be subject to the broader requirements of 227(b)– so do NOT get it twisted. The Court did not hold the TCPA does not apply to SMS messages, it held the TCPA’s DNC rules do not apply to text messages– and a large portion of the court’s reasoning would not apply to 227(b). So be careful!
5. Still don’t spam people with unwanted messages– bad for the brand and you can still be sued for nuisance and invasion of privacy in many jurisdictions. Treat people right and protect yourself!

More analysis soon.

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