You want the promotional texts to stop. You might still want the fraud alert. Those are different requests, and the FCC’s new text opt-out rules make that distinction worth understanding.
Starting November 25, 2026, a sender will be allowed to treat an opt-out from one category of informational messages as applying to that category. Opting out of marketing will still revoke consent for that sender’s marketing calls and texts. The change will also let senders designate a permitted, clearly disclosed method for withdrawing consent. The FCC’s final rule was published October 26.
For a legitimate business message, the useful habit is to check two things: what kind of message you’re stopping, and how the sender says to stop it. A suspicious text needs a different response.
What STOP will cover
The distinction is between informational messages and advertising or telemarketing. In this rule, informational means the message contains neither advertising nor telemarketing. These provisions concern calls and texts covered by the federal consent rules; they are not a promise that every message arriving on your phone follows the same requirements.
The FCC uses payment reminders and fraud alerts to illustrate the distinction: stopping the reminders need not mean losing the fraud alerts. Under the upcoming rule, a request directed at the payment reminders may be treated as stopping that category while leaving the fraud alerts available. That is an illustration of the rule, not a report about a particular company’s messaging system.
A marketing opt-out has broader reach within that sender’s marketing: it revokes consent for future advertising or telemarketing calls and texts from that caller. Because a marketing opt-out covers all of that sender’s marketing, a new campaign shouldn’t need a new opt-out. These distinctions appear in revised 47 CFR §64.1200(a)(10), reproduced in the published rule text, 91 FR 67219.
For sales calls and texts, a do-not-call request covers the company’s affiliates only where you’d reasonably expect them to be included. Don’t assume a STOP to one brand reaches its sister companies.
If you want several kinds of informational messages stopped, check the company’s verified communication preferences for the categories available. Don’t assume a STOP sent to one reminder will switch off every other notification, or that every company offers a single control to do that.
The opt-out instruction becomes more important
Under the rules in place as this article is written, a consumer can withdraw consent through a reasonable method that clearly communicates the request. A reply using other words can count when a reasonable person would understand it as an opt-out. The current regulation expressly addresses this.
From November 25, the sender may designate an exclusive method from the options the revised rule permits. Those include a reply keyword, a designated opt-out website or telephone number, and an automated opt-out mechanism on a call. The sender must disclose its designated method clearly and conspicuously in the message or call. If it makes a valid exclusive designation, it will not be required to process requests through other routes. If it does not, reasonable methods remain valid.
That makes the instruction in a genuine message more useful than a general request sent somewhere else. For example, where a sender has validly designated a reply keyword as its exclusive method, a separate email to customer service will not necessarily withdraw consent under this rule. That does not establish that the company ignores support emails; it describes which method the rule requires it to honor.
There is a useful protection within the keyword system. A sender designating reply texts may advertise just one keyword, but it must recognize all seven standardized options: STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL, and UNSUBSCRIBE. You do not have to guess which of those seven it prefers. Reply with one of those words on its own. A sentence like “please stop texting me” counts today, but once a sender validly designates reply keywords as its only method, it won’t necessarily have to treat that as an opt-out. If the texting system cannot accept replies, each message must disclose that limitation and provide reasonable alternatives for opting out. Revised §64.1200(a)(10)–(11) sets out these requirements.
If legitimate messages keep coming
Keep a record of the original message, its opt-out instruction, your request, and the dates. That gives you something concrete to show the company if the request does not work.
Both the current rule and the revised one require valid requests to be honored within a reasonable time — no more than ten business days after receipt under the general consent-revocation rule. Ten business days is an outer limit, not a requirement to keep sending until that deadline. Some exempt messages have shorter deadlines: qualifying bank fraud alerts and healthcare messages require immediate opt-outs, while exempt package-delivery notices have a six-business-day limit. Those exceptions appear in §64.1200(a)(9). A confirmation that merely acknowledges the opt-out and contains no marketing is allowed under the rule; it is different from another sales pitch. The timing and confirmation provisions are in paragraphs (10)–(12).
For follow-up, use contact information you independently know belongs to the company. Explain which messages you asked to stop and show the request. Also distinguish another message in the same category from a different informational alert: under the upcoming rule, those may have different consent outcomes.
If a company ignores your opt-out today, the November rules aren’t the reason — they haven’t taken effect.
A suspicious text is a different problem
Don’t use an opt-out link as a test of whether a message is genuine. If an unexpected text claims there is a problem with an account or delivery, check through the company’s app or contact details you already trust. The FTC recommends contacting the company independently, rather than using information in the text.
For suspected scam texts, avoid replying or following their instructions. You can report junk or spam through your messaging app, forward the message to 7726 (SPAM) to help your wireless provider, and report it through the FTC’s fraud-reporting service. The FTC’s guide explains these reporting routes. Blocking the sender may also help, but it does not guarantee that another number will never reach you.
For a verified sender, use its disclosed opt-out route and keep the record. For a suspicious sender, verify independently and report. The important distinction is whether you are withdrawing permission from a business or dealing with someone whose instructions you should not trust.