Spam texts · FloridaSpam texts in Florida? Some of them break the law.

Last reviewed October 18, 2026 by Jackson McMillan, Florida attorney

Short answer: Some spam texts are illegal. Florida's Telephone Solicitation Act covers marketing texts, but before suing for damages over texts you must reply STOP to the number that texted you, and the texts must keep coming more than 15 days later. Federal law also treats texts as calls, though its autodialer rule now reaches few texts.

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Do texts count as calls under the law?

Under the robocall section of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), yes. The Supreme Court has described a text to a cell phone as a "call" under that section, and the FCC's rules say the same. Whether texts count under the federal Do Not Call rules is disputed. Florida's own statute covers texts by name.

The TCPA has two main parts. The robocall part restricts calls made with an autodialer or a prerecorded or artificial voice. The Do Not Call part protects phone numbers listed on the National Do Not Call Registry, the free federal list for people who don't want sales calls. A text can fit the first part in principle, but as the next section explains, the autodialer definition has become narrow. The second part has its own problem with texts, covered further down.

That is why the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA) usually matters most for spam texts. It defines a sales call to include a text message, so Florida's rules apply to marketing texts without any argument over whether a text is a call (Fla. Stat. § 501.059(1)(j)).

Are automated marketing texts illegal under federal law?

Not just because they're automated. Since Facebook v. Duguid in 2021, a text breaks the federal autodialer rule only if the sending equipment could store or produce numbers with a random or sequential number generator. Most texting platforms send to a stored list instead, so most marketing texts don't qualify, even when a computer clearly sent them.

An autodialer, in the law's terms, is equipment that can create phone numbers by generating them randomly or in sequence and then dial them (47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(1)). Before 2021, many courts read the term broadly enough to cover nearly any automated system. The Supreme Court rejected that reading, and the National Consumer Law Center's treatise on these laws now says the federal autodialer rule won't apply to most text messages.

So if a company tells you it texted a list of numbers rather than random ones, it is making a strong federal argument. It isn't the end of the story, because Florida's law and the stop-request rules work differently, but it is the reason I don't tell anyone that an automated text is automatically illegal.

I'm on the Do Not Call Registry. Do marketing texts still count?

That question is unsettled under federal law. The federal Do Not Call lawsuit provision speaks of "telephone calls," and since 2025 several federal judges in Florida and Georgia, and in July 2026 a federal appeals court in the Midwest, have said that does not include texts. Other courts disagree, and an Eleventh Circuit appeal is reportedly pending.

Part of the reason is a 2025 Supreme Court case, McLaughlin Chiropractic v. McKesson, which says judges decide what the TCPA means for themselves instead of deferring to the FCC. The FCC's rules extend its Do Not Call protections to texts sent to cell phones, but some judges now read the statute's own words more narrowly. Until the Eleventh Circuit rules, nobody can promise that a federal Do Not Call claim over texts will survive in Florida.

Florida's law does not have that problem. It covers texts, and Florida keeps its own "no sales solicitation calls" list, which by statute includes the Florida numbers on the national Registry (Fla. Stat. § 501.059(3)(d), (4)). Whether being on the national list alone is enough for a Florida claim is not settled, so the safer course is to register on both. My Do Not Call list guide covers registration and the 31-day rule.

What does Florida's law say about spam texts?

The FTSA covers texts sent to sell you consumer goods, services, or credit. It bars unsolicited marketing texts sent with an automated system for selecting and dialing numbers unless you gave prior express written consent, bars sales texts to numbers on Florida's no-sales-calls list, and bars further sales texts after you tell the sender you don't want them.

Each of those rules has limits. "Unsolicited" leaves out texts you asked for and texts from a business you have a prior or existing relationship with (Fla. Stat. § 501.059(1)(k), (8)(a)). Written consent can be easier to give than it sounds: the statute counts checking a box or replying "yes" to a text as a signature (§ 501.059(1)(g), (1)(h)). And the meaning of "selecting and dialing" equipment hasn't been settled by a controlling appeals court decision.

The FTSA only covers sales. Political texts, survey texts, and debt collection texts fall outside it. Collection texts can still raise problems under Florida's collection law, which I cover on my debt collector harassment page. Texts to a Florida area code are presumed to reach someone in Florida.

Phishing texts are a different problem. A text with a fake package notice or a bogus bank alert usually comes from scammers who can't be identified or reached by a lawsuit. Don't click the link, don't reply with information, and report it to your carrier. The law can help most when a real business is behind the texts.

Do I have to reply STOP before I can sue?

Under Florida's FTSA, yes. Before suing for damages over text solicitations, you must reply "STOP" to the number that texted you. The sender then has 15 days to stop and may send one text confirming your request. You can sue only if you did not consent and the texts keep coming more than 15 days after your STOP.

The statute applies that step to any FTSA damages case over text solicitations, not only claims about automated texts (Fla. Stat. § 501.059(10)(c)). It says nothing about suits that only ask a court to order the texts to stop, but nearly everyone who sues wants damages, so plan on the STOP step.

A few practical points:

• Reply to the number that actually texted you. If texts come from several numbers, reply STOP to each one.
• Screenshot your STOP reply so the date and time show, and screenshot any confirmation that comes back.
• Count the days. A text that arrives in the first 15 days after your STOP doesn't open the door to a Florida damages claim. Texts that keep coming after that are what matter.
• Don't text anything else. Replying "yes," asking for details, or clicking a link can be used to argue you wanted the texts.

Federal rules on taking back consent work differently and have their own timing. See still getting calls after you told them to stop.

Is one spam text enough to sue over?

For getting into court, often yes. In 2023 the full Eleventh Circuit, the federal appeals court over Florida, held in Drazen v. Pinto that receiving even one unwanted, illegal text is a concrete enough harm to sue in federal court. That overruled a 2019 decision that had said a single unwanted text was not enough.

Being allowed into court is not the same as having a winning claim, though. A federal Do Not Call claim requires more than one violating call from the same company within 12 months, and texts face the separate problem described above. A Florida FTSA claim over texts, as a practical matter, requires texts that keep coming after your STOP and the 15-day wait.

Florida's list-based rule is worded differently. The FTSA's ban on sales calls to numbers on Florida's no-sales-calls list doesn't say you need more than one, unlike the federal rule. But the STOP step still applies to any damages case over texts, so in practice a text claim involves several texts.

What can a spam text claim be worth?

Florida's FTSA lets you recover your actual damages or $500, whichever is greater, and a court may increase the award up to three times if the sender acted willfully or knowingly (Fla. Stat. § 501.059(10)(a), (b)). A court can also order the texts to stop. The federal TCPA sets a similar $500 figure when a text violates it.

How the $500 is counted across many texts, and whether a court will increase it, depends on the facts and on how courts apply the statute. Value also turns on whether the sender can show consent, whether you took the STOP step, and whether the business behind the texts can be identified and can pay. I won't put a number on a case before reviewing it.

Fees are the part people misunderstand. Under the FTSA, the side that prevails recovers its reasonable attorney's fees and costs from the other side (§ 501.059(11)(a)). That helps when you win, but if you sue under the FTSA and lose, you could be ordered to pay the company's fees and costs. The federal TCPA has no fee-shifting provision at all. You don't pay me unless you win. I take these cases on contingency: no attorney's fees and no case costs owed to me unless you recover money. If a case is lost, a court can sometimes order the losing side to pay the other side's court costs, and some Florida laws, including the security deposit and deceptive practices statutes, also let the winner recover attorney's fees from the loser. I explain that risk before anything is filed, and every term is in a written agreement before you sign.

How long do I have to sue over spam texts?

A federal TCPA claim generally must be filed within four years of the text. Florida's FTSA doesn't name its own deadline. Florida's four-year limit for claims based on a statute may apply, but no court has settled it, so it's wise to act well inside four years, and sooner if the texts are continuing.

The bigger risk is losing evidence. Texts disappear when you switch phones, reset a device, or let an app auto-delete old messages. Back up the conversation or take screenshots now, while you still have it.

What to do today

• Screenshot every marketing text so the sending number, date, time, and full message show. Keep the whole thread, not just the latest text.
• Reply STOP to each number that texted you, and screenshot your reply and any confirmation.
• Start counting. Note the date of your STOP and save every text that arrives afterward.
• Check your registrations. Confirm your number is on the National Do Not Call Registry at donotcall.gov, and add it to Florida's list too.
• Think about where the sender got your number. Online forms, sweepstakes, and store sign-ups are common sources. Keep anything you submitted.
• Don't click links or reply with information, especially in texts that look like scams.
• Send it to me. Request a free case review with your screenshots. I'll tell you whether the texts may break Florida or federal law and whether the sender can be found.

Sources: Fla. Stat. § 501.059; Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. §§ 227(a)(1), 227(b), 227(c)(5); 47 C.F.R. §§ 64.1200(a), 64.1200(c), 64.1200(e); Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, 577 U.S. 153 (2016); Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, 592 U.S. 395 (2021); McLaughlin Chiropractic Assocs. v. McKesson Corp., 606 U.S. 146 (2025); Drazen v. Pinto, 74 F.4th 1336 (11th Cir. 2023) (en banc); National Consumer Law Center, Federal Deception Law, ch. 6. Last reviewed October 18, 2026.