How fast do I have to honour a STOP reply?
Within ten business days under the FCC’s 2024 revocation rules, and the request can come by any reasonable means, not only the word STOP. Florida’s act gives fifteen days for texts. Good practice is immediate and automatic.
Ten business days at most. The FCC's 2024 order on revocation of consent, in force from April 2025, requires a business to honour a request to stop within ten business days of receiving it, and provides that consent can be revoked by any reasonable means. A STOP reply is the obvious one, but "unsubscribe", "quit", "stop texting me", a request on a call or an email all count. Ten days is the ceiling. Messaging platforms can suppress a number the moment a STOP arrives, and the only safe practice is to let them.
Florida's fifteen days
The Florida Telephone Solicitation Act, Fla. Stat. § 501.059, since its 2023 amendment, requires a recipient who wants to sue over texts to have replied STOP first, and gives the sender fifteen days to stop. Messages sent after that window are actionable under the Florida act at $500 to $1,500 each, on top of the federal figure. The federal ten business days is the shorter clock, so meeting it meets both. The rest of the Florida act is covered in what is the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act.
What a message after a STOP is
A knowing violation. The business was told, in writing, that this person did not consent. That is the fact pattern a court looks at when deciding whether to treble damages to $1,500, and it is the fact pattern most demand letters about texts are built on, because the recipient's screenshot of the STOP and the messages after it is complete proof.
The fix
Automatic suppression on every keyword, a shared suppression list across every platform and vendor that sends for you, a single confirmation message with no marketing in it, and a log of every opt-out kept for four years. See damages per text.
People also ask
Does it have to be the word STOP?
No. Any reasonable expression of a wish not to be contacted counts: "unsubscribe", "quit", "stop texting me", a request on a call, an email. A business cannot limit the method.
Can I send one confirmation text after a STOP?
A single confirmation that contains no marketing, sent promptly, is permitted under the FCC’s rules. A second message, or a confirmation with an offer in it, is not.
What if a vendor sends for us and misses the STOP?
The revocation is to you, whoever received it. Every platform and vendor sending on your behalf must share a suppression list, and you are liable for the message the vendor sends after the STOP.