The short version
Quick answer
Replying STOP tells a marketing sender to stop texting you. For consent-based messages covered by the FCC’s revocation rule, STOP is a recognized way to withdraw consent; the request must be honored within a reasonable time, no more than ten business days. One limited, nonmarketing confirmation may follow. Save the thread first, and do not reply to a suspicious message just to test its unsubscribe instructions.
Should you reply STOP to this message?
Use this guide for a marketing sender you recognize and can verify independently. If an unexpected text asks for personal or financial information, do not open its links or reply just to investigate it. Verify any apparent company through a website you already know. The FTC recommends app reporting, forwarding unwanted texts to 7726 and reporting at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
For a recognized sender, keep the original promotion, opt-out instructions, your reply with its timestamp, any confirmation and later messages. Note the receiving number privately, the displayed sender and any separate business named in the text. This is an organizational checklist, not a guarantee that the record proves liability.
Source basis: FTC Consumer Advice
How long does the sender have to stop?
Section 64.1200(a)(10) recognizes STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL and UNSUBSCRIBE sent in reply to an incoming text as reasonable revocation methods per se. Other words can qualify if a reasonable person would understand them as a request to revoke consent. A covered sender cannot insist on one exclusive method.
The rule applies to consent for communications covered by its specified provisions. Requests made reasonably must be honored within a reasonable time not exceeding ten business days from receipt. Ten business days is an outside limit, not automatic permission to keep sending promotions for that entire period. Whether a particular text required consent, and whether an exemption with different conditions applies, remain separate questions.
If the texting system cannot receive replies, the rule requires each message to disclose that technical limitation and give reasonable alternative ways to revoke consent. Preserve the instructions and any failed-delivery notice. For a recognizable business, verify an alternative contact route independently rather than opening a suspicious link.
Source basis: 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200
A confirmation is not another advertisement
Section 64.1200(a)(12) permits a single text merely confirming revocation, without marketing or promotional material. A confirmation within five minutes is presumed to fall within prior consent; a later one requires a showing that the delay was reasonable.
When a consumer consented to several categories, a confirmation may ask which categories the consumer meant to stop. The rule separately requires further consent-required texts to cease absent clarification that some should continue. Keep the exact wording rather than assuming every message labeled confirmation qualifies.
Source basis: 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200
Does STOP cover every kind of message?
The FCC’s January 6, 2026 order, DA 26-12, specifies an extension to January 31, 2027 of the waiver of the requirement in §64.1200(a)(10) that revocation responding to one informational matter apply to future robocalls and robotexts on unrelated matters. It is not a waiver of all opt-out duties, all ten-business-day limits or every rule about confirmation texts.
If you want several types of contact to stop, make the intended scope explicit and preserve the request. The order’s narrow informational-message issue should not be turned into a general excuse to continue the marketing you asked to stop. January 31, 2027 is the date in that waiver, not a guarantee that later FCC action cannot change the timetable.
Source basis: DA 26-12 (Jan. 6, 2026)
October 12 rule check: adopted changes are not yet effective
The FCC released its final order FCC 26-67 on October 1, 2026. Paragraph 24 makes its rule amendments effective thirty days after Federal Register publication, not on release. The new amendments are not treated as effective on this guide’s October 12 review date. The FCC says it will announce the specific effective date in a public notice.
Once effective, the amendments allow specified, clearly disclosed exclusive revocation methods and category-specific treatment of informational messages. They preserve marketing-to-marketing revocation from the same caller; a text sender choosing keyword replies must still recognize all seven standardized words. These are adopted future changes, not instructions to apply an exclusive-method rule today.
The order also says the amendment will supersede the earlier January 31, 2027 delayed date when it takes effect. Keep the date of the message and the exact opt-out instructions: the rule governing a later dispute may differ from the rule summarized here.
Source basis: FCC 26-67 (released Oct. 1, 2026), paragraphs 14–19 and 24, notes 64–65
What if marketing texts continue after STOP?
Save the full sequence
Keep the promotion, your sent STOP with its timestamp, any delivery or error notice, any confirmation, and later messages. Preserve originals before blocking or deleting anything.
Separate the message types
Record whether the later text is an unsubscribe confirmation, a new promotion or another type of communication. Note the displayed sender and named business without assuming a new number proves a new company.
Choose the next step safely
For a business you can independently verify, keep a record of any further request. For a suspicious sender, do not engage to build a case. Use the reporting guide for carrier and agency routes and the preservation checklist for organizing your own records.
Another text after STOP does not by itself establish a TCPA violation or entitlement to payment. Timing, coverage, consent, sender identity and the available legal claim still matter.
Source basis: 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200 · FTC Consumer Advice · 47 U.S.C. § 227
Fictional example: annotate the sequence
On Monday at 10:00 a.m., a fictional retailer sends a sale text. At 10:03, the recipient replies STOP. At 10:04, an unsubscription confirmation arrives. On Thursday, another discount offer appears.
Keep four separate entries: the first offer shows content and displayed sender; STOP shows the instruction and time; the confirmation shows the response; the later offer raises a timing and purpose question. The example does not decide whether processing was reasonable or whether the same legal sender sent both offers. Do not label the later text an automatic violation just because it followed STOP.
Source basis: 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200
What the record still cannot establish
Preserve the original quote or signup form if you have it, including disclosure text and named companies. Separate things you know from guesses about how a number was shared. Do not contact suspicious senders just to collect more evidence.
Consent scope, technology, exemptions, attribution, available remedies and the law applicable to the dispute require separate analysis. This guide explains federal rules; it does not resolve a specific dispute or promise payment.
Source basis: 47 U.S.C. § 227