What information can be disclosed without consent?
Key Facts
- Appointment reminders and other non-marketing texts can be sent with oral or implied permission, no written consent required, per TCPA guidance.
- Marketing SMS demands prior express written consent — implied consent is never acceptable for promotional texts, according to compliance experts.
- Each TCPA violation can cost $500 to $1,500, plus multi-million-dollar class action lawsuits, per ActiveProspect.
- Opt-out requests must be processed within 10 business days, with one confirmation text allowed within 5 minutes, per FCC rules.
- 84% of consumers opted in to business texts in a 2025 survey, according to industry research.
- 58% of consumers want to choose their preferred communication channel when opting in, a recent survey found.
- Businesses must retain proof of consent — collection method, date, time, and exact language — for every text subscriber, per TCPA compliance guidance.
Consent Isn't Guesswork — It's a System
The short answer: informational messages like appointment reminders and confirmations can generally be sent with prior express invitation or permission — which can be oral or implied — while marketing texts demand prior express written consent. That distinction matters because getting it wrong can cost $500 to $1,500 per violation under the TCPA, and class actions climb fast (https://activeprospect.com/blog/sms-consent/). The practical takeaways are simple: keep marketing and transactional consent separate, treat texts like calls to stay on the safe side, honor opt-outs immediately, and keep records of how and when consent was collected. One honest caveat — this article covers consent for messaging, not the separate question of sharing consumer data with third parties, which depends on privacy laws beyond this scope. If you'd rather not build and police all of this yourself, CallMyLeads handles it for you: registered A2P 10DLC texting, explicit consent collected in the booking flow, and automatic opt-out handling on every message. Stop paying for leads you never get to talk to — book a free 15-minute scoping call and see how a compliant, always-on response system fits your business.