Lead generators and the companies that rely on them can breathe a sigh of relief. On Friday evening, less than three days before an onerous regulation was set to go into effect, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) reversed itself, postponing the effective date by twelve months, to January 26, 2026. The regulation, known as the One-to-One Consent Rule, would have drastically hampered the lead generation business by requiring consumers to be advised, at the time of their initial consent, what companies would have the right to solicit them, even if the consumers wished to make an open-ended request to receive, for example, text messages from the lowest bidder.
Although not final as of the time this is being published, the FCC is poised to make life difficult for lead generators and the companies that rely on them. In late November, the FCC proposed a rule that would require texters and robocallers obtain prior express written consent that is specific to a single seller in order to comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The problem, according to the FCC, is the “lead generator loophole,” which currently allows lead generators to obtain consent on behalf of multiple sellers from consumers who complete a single lead form, often hyperlinked to a long list of sellers. The FCC is expected to pass the rule during in mid to late December, effective in 2024. Another possible change will be extending the National Do-Not-Call Registry to text messages instead of just phone calls.