Is RCS Messaging Subject to the TCPA?

​As new technologies are introduced to the telecommunications ecosystem, questions regarding whether existing statutes, rules, and regulations- most notably the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)- apply to the new technology inevitably arise. These questions arose when SMS text messages, ringless voicemails, and avatar systems were introduced, and they are arising now with the advent of Rich Communications Services (RCS).

Are RCS messages subject to the TCPA? The answer is genuinely unsettled and more nuanced than the industry consensus suggests — there is a credible statutory argument that RCS is not subject to the TCPA as a “text message,” but material legal risk remains through other TCPA hooks, state law, and judicial uncertainty in the post-Loper Brightera.

What is RCS?

RCS is the next-generation successor to SMS, designed to bring the interactive, app-like experience of platforms like iMessage or WhatsApp directly to a phone’s native messaging inbox — without requiring any separate app download.

Unlike SMS, which transmits over a carrier’s legacy cellular signaling network, RCS sends messages over internet data (Wi-Fi or mobile data) using standard IP protocols (SIP and MSRP). Messages flow from the sender’s app through an RCS platform (typically Google’s in the U.S.) and are routed to the recipient’s native messaging app — Google Messages on Android, or the built-in Messages app on iOS 18+. If the recipient’s device or carrier doesn’t support it, the message automatically falls back to SMS/MMS.

RCS Offers Businesses Significant Advantages

For commercial (A2P) messaging, RCS enables a verified brand profile to be sent with the message, so the recipient will see the sender’s name, logo, and a verified checkmark, rather than an anonymous 10-digit number. Senders can also embed actionable buttons (e.g., “Book Now,” “Track Order”), image carousels, and suggested replies directly in the message thread.

This is what makes RCS functionally closer to an in-app experience or a mini-website than a traditional text message, and is also why the FCC’s 2109 RAY BAUM Act Order discussed below treated it as an IP-based messaging service distinct from SMS — a distinction with significant TCPA implications as discussed earlier

The Statutory Definition: RCS is not a “Text Message” Under the TCPA

The most important and underappreciated fact is that the FCC explicitly excluded RCS from the TCPA’s statutory definition of “text message” in its 2019 RAY BAUM Act Order, in which the Commission stated that Congress chose to exempt from the definition of “text message” any message sent over an IP-enabled messaging service that is not SMS or MMS — a category that expressly includes RCS and any other potential successor protocols.

Because the TCPA’s private right of action for unwanted texts is anchored to the phrase “text message,” and RCS does not qualify as one under the statute, there is a legally defensible argument that the core TCPA text messaging prohibition (47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A)(iii)) does not directly reach it. Note that this is not a fringe view: Twilio and EZ Texting successfully advanced this argument before the FCC during the RAY BAUM proceeding.

Potential Exposure: Is RCS a “Call” or Made With an ATDS?

The TCPA prohibits making any “call” to a cellular telephone number using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) without prior express consent. Courts in the post-Loper Bright era are independently interpreting whether the word “call” extends to text messages of any kind, not just SMS.

A February 2026 Louisiana district court ruling in McGonigle v. Shopperschoice.com held that §227(c)(5) covers text messages to cell numbers, reasoning that the ordinary meaning of “call” at the time of the TCPA’s 1991 enactment encompassed any attempt to reach someone by telephone, including technologies Congress couldn’t have anticipated.

If courts apply that logic to RCS by treating such messages as “calls” made via an automated platform, TCPA exposure could potentially survive a “not an SMS” defense. The key factual question then becomes whether the RCS Business Messaging platform being used constitutes an ATDS. Because most A2P RCS sends are made through platforms capable of sending to large lists without meaningful human intervention, this is a non-trivial risk factor.

State Mini-TCPAs: Texas Explicitly Covers RCS

Even if the federal TCPA exclusion argument holds for RCS, Texas Senate Bill 140, effective September 1, 2025, expanded its telemarketing statute to expressly cover SMS, MMS, and RCS messages. This is the first state mini-TCPA to explicitly name RCS, but it sets a precedent other states may follow. The Texas law includes a private right of action under the DTPA and applies to all businesses texting Texas numbers, regardless of where the business is located.

Other active state-level frameworks (Florida, Connecticut, Virginia, Arizona) remain framed around SMS/MMS but use broad language that could be interpreted to reach RCS depending on the jurisdiction.

The Fifth Circuit Consent Shift

To the extent TCPA does apply to RCS, a significant development in the recently decided Bradford v. Sovereign Pest Control of Texas, Inc. is relevant. The Fifth Circuit, applying Loper Bright, rejected the FCC’s longstanding rule requiring prior express written consent for telemarketing calls and texts, holding that the TCPA’s plain text requires only prior express consent (which can be oral or inferred from conduct). This only controls in the Fifth Circuit; other circuits have not followed yet.

Practical Compliance Takeaway

Whether RCS will be treated the same as an SMS or be viewed as a call will ultimately be decided by the many courts that will inevitably be presented with the issue. The prudent approach, particularly for any company looking to send commercial RCS at scale, is to treat RCS campaigns as covered by the TCPA, with all that implies, including compliance with:

• Prior express written consent (or at minimum express consent post-Bradford in the Fifth Circuit) before any commercial/marketing RCS message.
  
• Honor opt-outs via any reasonable method (effective April 2025 under FCC’s consent revocation rule).
  
• Quiet hours (8 a.m. – 9 p.m. local time).
  
• Texas SB 140 compliance for any messages sent to or from Texas numbers, given its explicit RCS coverage.
  
• Consent recordkeeping for at least four years.

The legal argument that RCS is outside the TCPA’s “text message” definition is genuine and may ultimately be vindicated but using it as an operational justification to skip consent practices is a high-risk gamble given the potential exposure to “call” and ATDS claims, as well as active state laws and a plaintiff bar that filed over 2,800 TCPA lawsuits in 2025 alone.