The Federal Communications Commission is considering whether to let political groups blast AI-generated robocalls to Americans' cell phones without their consent, just weeks before the November midterm elections. The push comes from Club for Growth, a conservative advocacy group spending millions of dollars ahead of the 2026 congressional races, and it has already drawn a warning from within the agency's own ranks that approval could unleash chaos on voters' phones right before Election Day.
According to Reuters, Club for Growth has asked the FCC to allow political calls to cell phones using an artificial or prerecorded voice, including an AI-generated voice, without prior express consent from the person being called. The group's president, David McIntosh, argued the commission should treat First Amendment-protected political speech the same way it treats wireless calls about package deliveries, bank accounts, and doctor's appointments, per Reuters. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez pushed back, saying that allowing a dark money group to flood Americans' phones with unsolicited AI-generated robocalls would bring chaos close to election day, Reuters reported.
The request landed in a formal Public Notice the agency released on September 4, which detailed Club for Growth's petition for an emergency waiver from Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules. The petition proposes self-imposed guardrails of three calls per 30 days per caller and a 10-day window to process opt-out requests, according to the FCC's filing.
Why Cell Phones Currently Require Consent
In February 2024, the FCC ruled that synthetic voices generated by artificial intelligence qualify as “artificial” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, making unsolicited AI robocalls to mobile phones illegal without prior express consent. That ruling closed a loophole by holding real-time interactive AI voice agents and voice clones to the same consent standards as prerecorded audio tapes, the commission said. Landline political calls currently carry fewer restrictions than mobile calls, which is part of why Club for Growth is arguing for what it calls regulatory parity.
The financial exposure behind that consent requirement is steep. Under the TCPA, statutory civil penalties for unauthorized autodialed or artificial voice calls to mobile numbers range from $500 to $1,500 per call, according to Sequential Tech. Because liability attaches per call, large-scale automated campaigns without verified consent records risk multimillion-dollar class action lawsuits — exposure Club for Growth has cited as chilling political outreach.
A Tight Timeline Before Election Day
The FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau set public comments on the petition for October 5 and reply comments for October 19, creating a narrow window that could allow the commission to issue a ruling in late October, ahead of the November midterms. That procedural sprint, fast-tracked through an expedited waiver process, has drawn sharp criticism from consumer groups who say the timeline leaves little room for scrutiny.
An attorney for the National Consumer Law Center estimated in October that waiving cell phone consent requirements for political robocalls could increase political call volume up to 40 times, reaching nearly 15 billion calls during an election cycle, as numerous political committees, campaigns, and nonprofits independently target voters, according to WENG 98.1FM. Consumer advocates argue that a three-calls-per-entity cap is ineffective because thousands of registered political entities could each place three calls a month to the same mobile number.
The commission is weighing a second, related petition alongside the robocall waiver. Filed by consumer Joe Shields in Docket 02-278, it asks the FCC to declare that mass person-to-person texting systems — which use human “click agents” to transmit thousands of political texts per hour — qualify as automated dialers subject to TCPA restrictions.
A Republican-Led Commission Weighs In
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr leads the agency, which has a 2-1 Republican majority on the commission, with Commissioner Gomez remaining the sole dissenting Democratic member on the pending petition. The agency's seal was photographed outside its offices in July.
The debate over AI-generated political calls carries a notable precedent from the 2024 New Hampshire presidential primary. The FCC proposed a $6 million fine against political consultant Steven Kramer for orchestrating spoofed, AI-generated robocalls mimicking President Joe Biden's voice that urged thousands of New Hampshire voters to stay home, the commission said at the time. A New Hampshire state jury later acquitted Kramer in June 2025 of criminal charges of voter suppression and candidate impersonation tied to that campaign, while he faced that proposed federal fine, according to Courthouse News Service. Kramer had argued in court that his actions were meant to raise public awareness about AI risks rather than suppress turnout.
States Move the Opposite Direction
While federal regulators weigh loosening robocall restrictions, state legislatures have been moving toward tighter rules. Michigan lawmakers introduced legislation in September proposing $500 fines per illegal AI robocall, as Hoodline previously reported, following states like Minnesota, which bars deepfakes intended to influence an election, and Washington, which requires disclosure of synthetic media. Even if the Republican-led FCC grants Club for Growth's federal waiver, some state and federal laws on deception and voter intimidation would still apply.
