Robocalls and the Do Not Call Registry

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 restricted calls using autodialers and prerecorded or artificial voices, and junk faxes, and let consumers sue for 500 to 1,500 dollars per violation. In 2003 the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission launched the National Do Not Call Registry, which more than 250 million phone numbers have joined. Legitimate telemarketers must check the list, though political calls, charities, surveys, and companies with an existing relationship are exempt.

Cheap internet calling and spoofed caller ID numbers let scammers make tens of billions of robocalls a year, many from overseas, for fake car warranties, health insurance, debt relief, and government impersonation. The TRACED Act of 2019 increased penalties and required phone companies to adopt STIR/SHAKEN technology, which verifies that caller ID is genuine, by 2021. The FCC blocks traffic from noncompliant providers, and in 2024 ruled that AI-generated voices count as artificial under the 1991 law, after a fake presidential voice robocall before the New Hampshire primary.

Enforcement remains hard because many callers are abroad or hide behind layers of carriers, and the Supreme Court narrowed the law's definition of an autodialer in Facebook v. Duguid in 2021 and in 2025 held that courts need not defer to the FCC's interpretations of the law. Consumers can register at donotcall.gov, report unwanted calls to the FTC and FCC, and use call-blocking tools offered by carriers and phone makers.