Facebook Text Message Spam Class Action Dismissed

A proposed class action lawsuit against Facebook alleging violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act has been dismissed.

U.S. District Court Judge Jon Tigar said in a ruling issued last month that the complaint against Facebook didn’t contain enough facts to support the allegation that it used an automated telephone dialing system to send text message spam.

Facebook had urged Judge Tigar to dismiss the TCPA class action lawsuit for several reasons, including that the plaintiff’s written complaint didn’t include enough facts to support the conclusion that Facebook used an autodialer to send the messages.

Judge Tigar agreed with Facebook. “Plaintiff’s allegations do not support the inference that the text messages he received were sent using an ATDS (automatic telephone dialing system),” he wrote.

The judge also added that the plaintiff doesn’t allege that Facebook sends text message spam “en masse to randomly or sequentially generated numbers.”

“Although plaintiff alleges that the operation of this system is ‘sloppy’ because messages are sent to individuals who never had a Facebook account, have never shared their phone number with Facebook, and/or who have requested deactivation of the login notifications, he does not suggest that Facebook sends text messages en masse to randomly or sequentially generated numbers,” the judge wrote.

Text Message Spam Allegations

The ruling stemmed from a proposed TCPA class action lawsuit filed by Noah Duguid, who alleged that Facebook repeatedly sent him unwanted text message spam.

The TCPA class action lawsuit was initially filed in December 2015 in New York federal court.

However, Duguid 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.

The Facebook class action lawsuit alleges that Duguid started receiving unsolicited text message spam from the company in January of last year, despite the fact that he never provided his phone number to Facebook.

Duguid, who says he has never signed up for Facebook, alleged that the company repeatedly notified him via SMS that his account had been accessed. Duguid’s carrier apparently reassigned him a phone number previously used by a Facebook member.

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 text message spam kept coming.

He alleged that the company violated Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits companies from using automated dialers to send text messages to people without their consent.

Judge Tigar dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice, meaning that Duguid can attempt to amend the allegations and file again.

What is the TCPA?

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is a federal law that imposes restrictions on the use of automatic telephone dialing systems (also called autodialers), artificial or prerecorded voice messages, and fax machines to send unsolicited advertisements.

Under the TCPA, artificial or prerecorded voice calls cannot be placed to a person’s home or cell phone, except for the following:

• Emergency calls
• When you have given prior consent to such calls
• Non-commercial calls (for example, calls from charities, polling organizations, political or government agencies)
• Calls by or on behalf of tax-exempt nonprofit organizations
• Calls which don’t have unsolicited advertisements
• Calls from companies with which you have an established business relationship

Additionally, the company using the autodialer must clearly state its identity at the beginning of the message, and its telephone number or address during or after the message.

For each unwanted call or text message spam, a consumer may be able to collect between $500 and $1,500.

If you received unwanted calls or text messages to your cell phone, an experienced TCPA attorney may be able to help you file a claim for compensation.

The 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.

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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