Florida Text Message Marketing Rules: What the FTSA Means for Marketers

Text messages are the most direct channel a marketer has, and Florida regulates them with its own statute on top of federal rules. Here is a plain language guide to what the FTSA asks of a marketing team.

By AMA Orlando, published November 2, 2026, 8 minute read

Text messages are the most direct channel a marketer has. They land on the lock screen, they get read, and for a local business they can fill a slow Tuesday. That reach is exactly why they are regulated, and Florida regulates them with its own statute on top of the federal rules.

The Florida Telephone Solicitation Act, codified at section 501.059 of the Florida Statutes, is the law most Central Florida marketing teams need to understand before they press send. This guide walks through what it says in plain language and turns it into a working checklist. It is general information, not legal advice, and the statute itself is the authority.

What the FTSA Covers

The statute defines a telephonic sales call as "a telephone call, text message, or voicemail transmission to a consumer." Texts are named outright, so there is no question about whether a promotional SMS campaign is in scope.

The duties fall on a telephone solicitor, which the statute defines broadly: a person or business doing business in Florida that makes a telephonic sales call or causes one to be made, including through automated dialing. Two practical consequences follow.

A local business texting its own list is covered, even if a platform does the actual sending.
An agency sending on a client's behalf is in the picture too, since causing a call to be made is enough. Agencies and clients should agree in writing who holds the consent records.

Where the Law Draws the Line on Unsolicited Messages

Much of the statute is about unsolicited telephonic sales calls. The definition excludes calls made in response to an express request from the person called, calls primarily about an existing debt or contract that is not yet complete, calls to a person with whom the solicitor has a prior or existing business relationship, and calls by a newspaper publisher about the newspaper's business.

Those exclusions are narrower than they sound in a planning meeting. "We sold them something once" is not a strategy, and whether a given relationship qualifies is exactly the kind of question to bring to counsel. The safer path for marketing texts is the one the statute describes next: written consent.

The Consent Standard for Automated Texts

Subsection (8)(a) bars unsolicited telephonic sales calls that involve an automated system for the selection and dialing of telephone numbers, or a recorded message, without the prior express written consent of the called party. The Legislature amended the statute in 2023, and the current text describes the automated system with the words "selection and dialing."

Most SMS marketing platforms send to lists automatically, so the practical answer is to collect consent that meets the statute's definition. Under subsection (1)(g), prior express written consent is a written agreement that:

Bears the signature of the person agreeing.
Clearly authorizes the business to send telephonic sales calls using an automated system or recorded message.
Includes the telephone number the person is authorizing.
Includes a clear and conspicuous disclosure that agreeing authorizes those messages, and that the person is not required to agree as a condition of buying anything.

What a Consent Form Should Capture

Turn the definition into fields and records your team can show later.

An unchecked box for text messages, separate from the email signup and separate from the terms of purchase.
The disclosure text right beside the box, in readable type, naming your business and stating that consent is not a condition of purchase.
The phone number field on the same form, so the agreement and the number travel together.
A stored record of the date, time, form version and source page for every consent, kept for as long as you text that number.
No prechecked boxes and no consent buried in a privacy policy, which undercut the clear and conspicuous standard.

If you run events, apply the same discipline to paper and tablet signups at the table. A clipboard with a phone number column is not a consent record.

Honor Opt Outs Everywhere, Immediately

Subsection (5) prohibits contacting someone who has previously told the solicitor they do not wish to receive calls, texts or voicemails from or on behalf of that seller.

Subsection (10)(c) adds a specific step for text messages. Before a person can sue over text solicitations, they must reply "STOP" to the number that texted them. The business then has 15 days to stop sending text solicitations to that person, and may send one text confirming it received the notice.

Do not read that 15 days as a grace period to plan around. Treat STOP as instant:

Process opt outs automatically in the sending platform, not by hand at the end of the week.
Sync the opt out list across every tool that can text, including the CRM, the review request tool and any agency platform.
Recognize plain language opt outs such as "stop texting me" or "unsubscribe," and route them the same way.
Send at most one confirmation and nothing after it.

Send From a Number That Answers

Subsection (8)(b) requires anyone making telephonic sales calls to transmit the originating telephone number, and the number shown must be able to receive calls and connect the person back to the business or the seller. For a text program, that means sending from a number your team actually monitors, with a voice line that reaches a person or a clear message during business hours.

The Florida Do Not Call List

Florida keeps its own Do Not Call list, maintained by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Residents can add their number for free. Subsection (4) bars unsolicited telephonic sales calls to numbers on the current quarterly listing. The federal National Do Not Call Registry is a separate list with its own rules, so scrub against both before any outreach that does not rest on written consent.

Calling Hours and Frequency

A related section of the Florida Telemarketing Act, section 501.616, bars commercial telephone solicitation phone calls before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. in the called person's time zone, and more than three such calls from any number to a person within 24 hours on the same subject. That section is written about phone calls and has its own scope, so ask counsel how it applies to your program. As a working habit, many teams keep promotional texts inside the same window and well under the same frequency.

What a Violation Can Cost

Under subsection (10), a person harmed by a violation can recover actual damages or $500, whichever is greater, and a court may increase the award to as much as three times that amount for willful or knowing violations. Text campaigns go to whole lists at once, so a mistake in a single send repeats across every recipient on it. That arithmetic is the strongest argument for getting consent and opt outs right before volume, not after.

Federal Rules Still Apply

The FTSA sits on top of federal law, not in place of it. The federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the National Do Not Call Registry apply to the same programs, and carriers and texting platforms set their own registration and content rules on top of both. A program that satisfies Florida's statute still needs to satisfy those.

A Working Checklist for Orlando Marketing Teams

Inventory every tool that can send a text, including review requests and appointment reminders that drift into promotion.
Rebuild signup forms around the four elements of written consent, and keep the records.
Wire STOP handling so it suppresses a number across every platform within minutes.
Send from a monitored number that can receive calls.
Scrub non consent outreach against the Florida and national Do Not Call lists.
Put the consent and opt out duties in writing between any agency and client.
Review the program with Florida counsel before a large launch and once a year after.

For the owned channel that sits beside text, see the chapter's guide to newsletter growth tactics that compound, and for choosing which tools belong in the stack at all, the SMB growth stack for 2026.

Key Takeaways

Florida's FTSA names text messages outright, and it reaches agencies that cause messages to be sent as well as the businesses they serve.
Automated marketing texts need prior express written consent: a signature, clear authorization, the phone number, and a disclosure that consent is not a condition of purchase.
Honor opt outs immediately, even though the statute gives a 15 day window after a STOP reply.
Send from a number that can receive calls, and scrub outreach without consent against the Florida and national Do Not Call lists.
Bring compliance questions to a chapter event to compare notes with other Central Florida marketers, and find planning templates in the chapter resources.

This article is general information for marketing professionals and is not legal advice. Laws and their interpretation change. Read the current text of the statutes linked above and consult a Florida licensed attorney about your specific program.

Topics: SMS marketing, compliance, Florida law, consent, small business