FCC Finds Digital Messages by Ryerson Aren't Faxes Under TCPA

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau said digital messages sent by Joseph T. Ryerson & Son aren’t faxes subject to liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection and Junk Fax Protection acts. Ryerson contended its messages are “more closely analogous to an email than a traditional fax,” said a Friday declaratory ruling. CGB cited last year’s decision on a similar petition by Amerifactors. “Ryerson’s technology is similar to the technology the Bureau addressed in Amerifactors,” the ruling said: “The petitioner did not send an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone facsimile machine under the TCPA.”