Facebook Faces TCPA Allegations for Unwanted Text Messages

Facebook is facing a serious TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) class action lawsuit, from a man alleging the social media giant sent him numerous unwanted text messages.

Proposing an amended class action TCPA lawsuit to a California federal judge, Plaintiff Noah Duguid alleges he suffered damages from Facebook’s automated dialing system and that a class action formation is needed.

Duguid stated that he suffered from damages after receiving numerous unwanted text messages, which consisted of automated “login notification” and “login approval” text spam.

These text messages are meant to notify Facebook users know when their account has been accessed from different locations.

However, Duguid does not have a Facebook account and had never authorized the social media company to send him these text messages, which did not stop despite instructing it too.

Duguid had proposed a $5 million class action TCPA lawsuit but had been nixed earlier this year after a California judge was not convinced that Facebook’s text messages were sent using an automated dialing system.

Duguid then filed an amended lawsuit in April 2016, however Facebook argued there is still insufficient evidence indicating the company used an automated dialing system.

Overview of Proposed TCPA Lawsuit

Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in a different case, Spokeo v. Robins, found that allegations regarding technical violations that did not produce actual harm would not suffice.

Duguid argued that he had addressed the previous grievances with the court already, and alleges that Facebook specifically stored telephone numbers in a database to send those login notifications.

He also points out that Facebook is more than capable of having an automated dialing system to send out text spam to multiple recipients.

Duguid even addressed the harm he suffered from Facebook’s text spam by citing the economic damages incurred from the unwanted text messages.

Duguid first filed the proposed class action TCPA lawsuit in March 2015, when Facebook started sending him text messages despite not having an account. Even though he sent Facebook a number of complaints regarding the text spam, he kept receiving automated replies instructing him to login into his account to address the problem.

“Facebook operates a sloppy system and in doing so shows complete disregard for the privacy of consumers,” Duguid had written.

U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar previously axed his suit after finding insufficient evidence of the allegations, but left Duguid the option to amend his complaint.

Facebook fought back against these allegations in the TCPA lawsuit, stating that its login notifications were exempt from TCPA rules.

The social media giant tried to argue these notifications qualified as “calls made for emergency purposes”, but Duguid stated those exceptions were only emergencies like “Amber alerts or natural disaster warnings”.

The Amended Facebook TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Noah Duguid et al. v. Facebook Inc., Case No. 3:15-cv-00985, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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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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