Recent legal battles have challenged whether SMS should be covered under TCPA laws, and courts are now ruling that SMS does in fact fall within the guidelines set forth by the TCPA. With new regulation, how does this affect SMS providers and their customers?
The simple answer should be that there is no effect, as long as the provider has always and will continue to adhere to the normal industry best practices, rules and regulation already put in place by industry groups such as the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and the CTIA. Laws governed under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) simply state that explicit consumer consent be acquired before the sending of any SMS campaign- with courts now upholding the fact that SMS messaging is the same as \”calling\” in terms of the act\’s stipulations.
We at mobileStorm, for example, have always placed heavy emphasis on user privacy, consent and explicit opt-in- even going as far as to implement a double-opt-in strategy for SMS campaigns to ensure the utmost regulation adherence for every campaign sent through our platform. Through vigorous attention paid to best practices on all relevant levels, we, and any other provider with the same rigorous adherence, will have no problem complying with new regulation such as what falls under the TCPA guidelines.
With increased regulation comes increased ambiguity in terms of the perception on behalf of brands wanting to utilize SMS, representing the only downside to the situation. With layers upon layer of rules, guidelines, do\’s and don\’ts and threats of legal action, brands may become hesitant to the channel in fear of doing something wrong, upsetting their target audience or a bevy of other issues associated with the perception that using SMS can lead to rule-breaking and even court battles.
This perception again falls back to us as an SMS provider. If those brands do their research and know for a fact that we use strict adherence to the aforementioned issues, the worry is all but eliminated. We\’re the ones that need to worry about strict adherence, not the brands wanting to utilize the medium. Choosing the right provider makes all the difference, and is the main reason we\’ve built our foundation for success on unparalleled adherence to best practices and consumer privacy.