On November 27, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it has approved final amendments to its Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) that will extend the rule's coverage to 'inbound' telemarketing calls made for technical support services, following comments from the public consultation in April 2024. These would include calls made by consumers to companies pitching technical support services through advertisements or direct mail solicitations.

The FTC mentioned that the amendment was necessitated by the discovery that consumers reported losing more than $165 million to tech support scams in 2024. According to the FTC, the new rules will ensure that tech support services are covered, helping to hold businesses accountable and get money back for injured consumers.

What are the main changes to the TSR?

While maintaining the March 2024 amendments, the new rules:

• define technical support services as 'any plan, program, software, or service that is marketed to repair, maintain, or improve the performance or security of any device on which code can be downloaded, installed, run, or otherwise used, such as a computer, smartphone, tablet, or smart home product, including any software or application run on such a device;' and
• add 'technical support services' to the categories of calls excluded from the TSR's exemptions for inbound calls made 'in response to an advertisement through any medium, as well as those made in response to direct mail solicitation including email.'

Furthermore, the FTC noted that most provisions of the new rule will become effective 60 days after publication.

You can read the press release here and the new rule here.