Issue 11

FCC Rattles Networks, Aggregators and Data Brokers with New Rule
On November 22, the FCC issued a new rule stating that consent must be obtained on behalf of one seller at a time. While the measure was anticipated by many market participants, it sent fears throughout the industry over Thanksgiving. The ruling notes “We nonetheless give texters and callers, and any third party websites they obtain consent through, a six-month implementation period to make the necessary changes to ensure consent complies with our new requirement.” Richard Newman of Hinch Newman writes “FCC may be leaving a bit of wiggle room for lead gens to permit consumers to provide multiple seller consents in one page, but there are limitations.” The FCC votes on the rule at the open meeting on December 13. Eric Troutman of Troutman Amin, LLC estimates that the rule will go into effect in approximately August 2024.

FCC & FTC Starting to View AI as Frenemy
On November 16th, the FCC and FTC stepped forward to address the growing use of AI tech in telecom. These initiatives align with the recent Executive Order, signaling federal regulators' heightened focus on AI-related issues. FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel stated, “I think we make a mistake if we only focus on the potential for harm. We need to equally focus on how artificial intelligence can radically improve the tools we have today to block unwanted robocalls and robotexts.” Separately, the FTC announced the launch of the Voice Cloning Challenge to prevent the use of cloned voices to perpetuate fraud. Stay tuned as it will be interesting to see how the government agencies embrace AI for enforcement.

Transparency is Critical for Affiliate + Influencer Campaigns
“When influencers or affiliates share your content or products, make sure they include these disclosure hashtags prominently,” write Deborah G. Solmor and Terance A. Gonsalves in Inside Out, a new monthly column for LeadsCon’s digital channel. This month’s not-to-be-missed post provides insights around the FTC’s recent guidelines around endorsements, influencer, and affiliate marketing. And don’t miss the segment toward the end where the authors provide “Practical Suggestions” which give you action items on how to stay ahead (from both, inside and outside counsel perspectives). Stay tuned for December’s post!

Credit Unions Get Vocal About Impractical Change to TCPA + Rocket Mortgage in Crosshairs Again
CUNA and NAFCU, two associations representing the nation’s credit unions, had meetings with the FCC to discuss recent changes to the TCPA. In a post, CUNA noted “The organizations reiterated the 24-hour response time for the TCPA proposal on revocation of consent is not practicable and urged the FCC to limit the scope of the revoked consent to the type of message that prompted the revocation.” In unrelated regulatory news, on November 14, a class-action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona against Rocket Mortgage for violating the TCPA.

LeadsCon Las Vegas 2024 On Sale Now!
It’s clear that the industry is undergoing a lot of change, which makes coming together all the more important! The industry’s largest gathering of lead generation and marketing professionals will take place April 8-10 at the Paris in Las Vegas. Register this week to ensure you don’t miss out! Take it from Kalvin Spikes of Monetize.com who told us “You can definitely get a lot of new business going to LeadsCon with all the people that you meet. It’s amazing; I definitely recommend it!”

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