Manatt Advertising Partner Comments on New SMS Ad Rules Taking Effect
"New Regs for SMS Ads Take Effect Tomorrow"
Media Post
October 15, 2013 - Manatt's Marc Roth, a partner in the firm's Advertising, Marketing & Media Division, spoke to Media Post about new SMS ad rules, enacted by the Federal Communications Commission, that go into effect on October 16.
As reported by Media Post, the new rules require companies to obtain consumers' written consent before sending them SMS ads. Companies must also explicitly tell consumers, before they consent, that they will receive calls made by autodialers. Prior regulation didn't clearly spell out that consent had to be in writing, allowing companies such as Wal-Mart prevail in lawsuits that accused them of spamming consumers with SMS messages. In Wal-Mart's case, a consumer provided the pharmacy her phone number believing it would be used for communication about her prescriptions, but she instead received unwanted SMS messages.
If that same situation were to happen tomorrow, the result in court likely would be different, according Roth. "After Wednesday, just providing a phone number for texts will not be enough," Roth says.
Read the article here.