Facebook Must Face Class Action Over Unwanted Text Messages, Panel Says
A Ninth Circuit judge wrote that messages received by a non-Facebook user were "automated, unsolicited, and unwanted."
June 13, 2019 at 02:49 PM
3 minute read
A federal appeals court has revived a proposed class action lawsuit against Facebook Inc. brought on behalf of non-Facebook users who claim they've gotten unsolicited texts from the company in violation of a federal robocalling statute.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision that had tossed a lawsuit brought by Noah Duguid, a non-Facebook user who claimed the company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by mistakenly sending him security messages meant to alert users when their account had been accessed from an unrecognized device or browser. Duguid claimed that Facebook failed to respond to his multiple text and email requests to stop sending him the texts.
“The messages Duguid received were automated, unsolicited, and unwanted,” wrote Judge M. Margaret McKeown, adding that the messages fell outside an exemption to TCPA liability for emergency messages that has been outlined by the Federal Communications Commission. “Duguid did not have a Facebook account, so his account could not have faced a security issue, and Facebook's messages fall outside even the broad construction the FCC has afforded the emergency exception,” McKeown wrote.
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