The Federal Communications Commission this week unanimously voted to require prior consent for companies to use ringless voicemails.
"Imagine finding robocallers leaving junk voicemails on your phone without it ever having rung. It's annoying and it's happening to too many of us," FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. "Today we're taking action to ensure these deceptive practices don't find a way around our robocall rules and into consumers' inboxes."
Specifically, the commission this week "clarified" that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which forbids robocalls without authorization, also covers pre-recorded audio messages that appear in your mobile mailbox without an actual phone call. Rosenworcel first proposed the change in February.
Marketing firm All About the Message in 2017 filed a petition seeking to exempt ringless voicemails from robocall rules, claiming that since they don't buzz your phone, they're not actually calls. The petition was later withdrawn.
The FCC has been going after robocallers for years, most recently threatening to cut off voice providers who fail to stop them from the US telecom network entirely.