Facebook Class Action Lawsuit Wants Spam Text Messages to Stop

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Facebook Inc. by a consumer alleging the social media giant sent unsolicited text messages to individual’s cellphones using an automated telephone dialing system, an alleged violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

Lead plaintiff Noah Duguid filed the Facebook class action lawsuit at the beginning of December, claiming that he had received multiple unsolicited text messages from Facebook since January of this year. These Facebook text messages stated phrases like “Your Facebook account was accessed from an unknown browser at 2:16pm. Log in for more info.” A few months later in April, Duguid emailed Facebook with a detailed account concerning the unauthorized, unsolicited text messages sent to his cell phone, requesting that Facebook cease its text spam of his phone.

Duguid claims in the Facebook class action lawsuit that his only response from the social media company was an automated Facebook email, urging Duguid to log on to Facebook and submit a report regarding problematic content. Duguid alleges he redoubled his efforts to contact Facebook and continued to explain the issue, but claims he was never able to talk to a human Facebook representative.

According to the Facebook text spam class action lawsuit, Duguid stated, “A human needs to read this email and take action. In response, Facebook sent the same automated email as received in response to the first email.”

In October, Duguid claims he responded to an unwanted Facebook text message with the phrase “off” and received a response text message from the company that stated, “Facebook texts are now off. Reply on to turn them back on.” On the very same day, however, the plaintiff claims he was hit with another Facebook text spam message.

The Facebook class action lawsuit alleges that Duguid replied with “off” and “all off” multiple times and received the same message confirming the Facebook text spam messages were disabled. In light of these alleged events, Duguid filed the text spam class action lawsuit, alleging Facebook “negligently, knowingly, and/or willfully sent unauthorized automated text messages to [his] cellular phone,” thus violating the TCPA.

The plaintiff seeks to represent himself and two proposed Classes of consumers in this Facebook TCPA class action lawsuit. The first TCPA text spam Class would consist of individuals who, within the last four years, received a text message from Facebook despite never having given the company their number. The second Facebook TCPA Class would include individuals who requested that the company cease to send them text messages, received a Facebook confirmation regarding the disabling of the text message feature, and yet still allegedly received Facebook text spam.

The Facebook TCPA Text Spam Class Action Lawsuit is Duguid v. Facebook Inc., Case No. 1:14-cv-09456-SAS, in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.

What is The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)?

The TCPA is a set of federal laws that limits telephone soliciting by companies and telemarketers. This set of laws pay  close attention to the use of automatic telephone dialing systems by companies to make robocalls to current and potential consumers.

In regards to text messages or text spam lawsuits like the one lodged against Facebook, the Federal Communications Commission’s Website states:

“The TCPA and the FCC’s rules ban many text messages sent to a mobile phone using an autodialer. These texts are banned unless (1) you previously gave consent to receive the message or (2) the message is sent for emergency purposes. This ban applies even if you have not placed your mobile phone number on the national Do-Not-Call list of numbers telemarketers must not call.”

Facebook is not the only company accused of TCPA violations for allegedly sending unsolicited text-spam messages to consumers. Many business who allegedly employ automated dialers to call or text consumers without their expressed consent are facing potential TCPA class action lawsuits or individual TCPA text spam lawsuits.

Join a Free TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were contacted on your cell phone by a company via an unsolicited text message (text spam) or prerecorded voice message (robocall), you may be eligible for compensation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

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