What is a live agent autodialer?

This is a somewhat contingent definition as court opinion and FCC rulings constantly reshape what is and isn’t an ATDS under the TCPA. Following Facebook v. Duguid, the devices that would most squarely fit the definition of an autodialer are ones that produce or dial numbers randomly or sequentially. Very few modern dialers that are used commercially would meet this definition.

However, it is always possible that, either through legislative action by Congress or further court rulings, the definition of an ATDS could change further, reclassifying other devices as autodialers. Additionally, state-level regulations may have different standards for what is or is not an autodialer.

The “live agent” qualifier means that these autodialers connect the call recipients with a live person.

What are the risks?

On the one hand, the risks are enormous as, by definition, any autodialed call made to a cell phone (or VoIP or fax line) without proper consent is necessarily a TCPA violation. On the other hand, the Supreme Court’s Facebook decision makes it such that essentially the only devices that meet this designation are archaic, rapid fire dialers. Overall, the near guarantee of violations for any devices that do meet the definition means the level of risk is high.