Court Ruled Text Messages Are Not Telephone Calls
The federal ruling limits legal standing for unsolicited messages under existing telecommunications law.
Updated on Oct. 5, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence
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The Western District of Virginia ruled that text messages do not constitute telephone calls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). This decision clarifies that cellular devices do not qualify as residential lines for the purposes of the act.
Why it matters
The ruling limits the scope of TCPA litigation by distinguishing between voice communication and text-based data transmission. It effectively narrows the grounds for legal action when plaintiffs receive multiple unsolicited messages within a 12-month period.
The court cited Section 227(e)(8) of the TCPA, which defines text messages by the absence of two-way voice or video, contrasting this with Section 227(c)(5) which governs telephone call frequency.
The players
Twilio
A cloud communications platform known for its APIs that enable software developers to integrate messaging and voice services into applications.
OpenAI
An artificial intelligence research and deployment company that develops large-scale language models and related enterprise services.
The details
The court analyzed statutory language differences in the TCPA to determine that a telephone call requires the reproduction of sounds, a feature absent in standard text messages. By adopting the Seventh Circuit reasoning from Steidinger v. Blackstone Med. Servs., the court underscored that cellular phones fall outside the legal definition of residential lines. The ruling addresses an incident involving an OpenAI error code, specifically the 429 status code, which was scrutinized as part of the alleged communication.
Timeline
October 1, 2026: The Western District of Virginia issued the Lowrey v. Twilio, Inc. ruling.
The Tech Race
This ruling aligns with a developing legal trend where courts define digital-age communication protocols through outdated legislative definitions. It reinforces the reliance on the Steidinger v. Blackstone Med. Servs. precedent to handle modern automated messaging disputes.
This decision limits the ability for users to seek damages under TCPA statutes for text-based communications compared to voice calls. It changes the legal workflow for litigators managing disputes against communication service providers and AI platforms.
The takeaway
The court's decision highlights the widening gap between 20th-century communications statutes and current digital messaging norms. Readers should track future case law referencing the Lowrey v. Twilio, Inc. decision, as it will likely serve as a foundational argument in upcoming TCPA lawsuits involving automation software.
Further reading
For more on how judicial interpretations affect modern software, visit the Artificial Intelligence section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The National Law Review - A Free To Use Nationwide Database of Legal Publications.
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