Facebook Faces $5M TCPA Lawsuit for Unsolicited Text Messages

A Montana resident has filed a text spam class action lawsuit in California federal court against Facebook for allegedly sending automated text messages to mobile phone users without their prior express consent, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”).

Lead Plaintiff Noah Duguid’s claim was initially brought in federal court in New York City last December.  However, the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the TCPA lawsuit on March 3 and refiled in the Northern District of California after Facebook argued that the Southern District of New York was an improper venue.

Allegations of Facebook TCPA Violations

As a security feature, Facebook allows its users to activate certain login alerts that notify users when their accounts are being accessed from a new device (computer, smartphone, tablet, etc.).  For many users, Facebook purportedly sends the following text message: “Your Facebook account was accessed from [Internet browser] at [time].  Log in for more info.”

Duguid’s TCPA class action lawsuit does not specify whether the he was a Facebook user.  Nevertheless, the Facebook class action lawsuit alleges that Duguid started receiving unsolicited text messages from the company in January of last year, despite the fact that he never provided his phone number to Facebook.

After receiving text messages from Facebook, Duguid alleges that he opted out of the social network’s text messaging program multiple times and received assurances that the feature had been disabled, but he says that the texts kept coming.

After receiving these unsolicited text messages, Duguid filed a TCPA class action against Facebook on behalf of those who: (1) never provided their mobile phone number to Facebook but received unsolicited text messages from the company by means of an automatic telephone dialing system; or (2) notified Facebook that they no longer wished to receive text messages but still continued to receive them.

The Facebook TCPA lawsuit calls for statutory damages of $500 for each violation of the TCPA.  For instances where the unsolicited text messages were knowingly or willfully delivered by an automatic telephone dialing system, Duguid is seeking treble damages ($1,500 per text).

Although plaintiff’s counsel is not aware of exactly how many messages Facebook has delivered in the aggregate, the TCPA lawsuit estimates that several thousand or more unwanted text message were sent in this manner, which could total over $5 million in statutory damages.

TCPA Regulations

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) allows certain individuals to file lawsuits (including class actions) to collect damages after receiving unsolicited text messages delivered by an automatic telephone dialing system.  These plaintiffs may show actual damages or, like Noah, seek statutory damages ranging from $500 to $1,500 per TCPA violation.

Although certain legal protections were once afforded to companies delivering automated text messages to consumers with whom they had an established business relationship, this exception was eliminated by new rules enacted by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) in 2013.  Now, prior express written consent is required for all autodialed commercial text messaging.

The Facebook Text Message Spam Class Action Lawsuit is Noah Duguid v. Facebook, Inc., Case No. 3:15-cv-985 filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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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