Rules and Regulations

Mobile marketing efforts must also follow the same rules and regulations as other types of digital marketing, including the U.S. Canned SPAM Act and Canadian Anti‐Spam Legislation (CASL), EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and others. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulate much of the marketing that happens on the Internet, including on mobile phones. The most important regulations for mobile marketing limit calling and text messaging, especially the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

The main limitations to keep in mind in mobile marketing tend to be common sense, which will also ensure that you are not being too aggressive and irritating potential customers. Basically, if you have a commercial interest, you need to have written consent to send people SMS marketing messages, and recipients need to clearly understand if they are consenting to a one‐time communication or ongoing communication. Written consent from potential customers generally happens with a response to an initial text message that says it is okay for a company to message you. In most cases, there will be a call to action that is not in a text message, instructing people to “text XYZ to 12345 to begin receiving special text message communication, alerts or deals!” Once a customer does that, a message with a deal is sent, along with instructions to reply with YES if you would like to continue receiving deals via text message, and this is usually followed with instructions that the customer can also text STOP at any time to stop receiving text messages.

You are not permitted to simply buy lists of phone numbers and message them. There can be numerous variations in the regulations based on what you are sending and what you are marketing. For instance, if you are marketing items that are age‐restricted, like alcohol or tobacco, you need to only send those messages to people who have had their age verified. You also can’t send copyrighted or trademarked material without appropriate licenses, and you can’t send confidential information or anything violent, including hate speech, threats, or descriptions of potential violence. The restrictions for nonprofits are slightly less stringent than those for consumer goods and services; specifically, you don’t need to have consent in writing to send text messages, but you do still need to have some type of consent before sending the SMS messages.