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Facebook Named In Illinois TCPA Lawsuit

Michael Agruss

Written and Reviewed by Michael Agruss

  • Managing Partner and Personal Injury Lawyer at Mike Agruss Law.
  • Over 20 years of experience in Personal Injury.
  • Over 8000+ consumer rights cases settled.
  • Graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law: Juris Doctor, 2004.

Facebook Named In Illinois TCPA Lawsuit

An Illinois resident has filed a class-action lawsuit against Facebook, for sending her an SMS message suggesting that she send “friend” requests to other users. Darya Ivankina filed a Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois; she says Facebook violated the TCPA by sending her cell phone an unsolicited ad.On February 5, 2013, Facebook sent an SMS message to Ivankina; her lawyer, William Sweetnam, says his client never gave Facebook her permission to send her cell phone messages. Under the TCPA, it’s illegal for companies to use an automated dialing service to send SMS messages to people without first obtaining their consent. In an apparent coincidence, Facebook sent Ivankina a similar message on May 8, minutes after she filed the lawsuit.It remains unclear whether Ivankina is saying Facebook meant the messages to go to her, or to another recipient—this could have happened if she was using a reassigned phone number. But the company could still be liable in this case; a federal appellate court in Chicago recently ruled that a debt collector who called the wrong recipients could be sued for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Facebook’s not the first Web based company to come up against the TCPA; Google, Yahoo, and Path were all recently sued—Google settled for $6 million.The TCPA restricts telephone solicitations, the use of automated telephone equipment, and unsolicited advertisements. Specifically, the TCPA limits the use of automatic dialing systems, prerecorded voice messages, unsolicited text messages, and junk faxes. So, what should you do when you get a robocall or an unsolicited text message? Hang up the phone. Do not press 1 or any other numbers to get off the list. Then, contact Mike Agruss Law, for a free consultation. The Federal Trade Commission has stopped billions, yes billions, of robocalls in the last two years. Mike Agruss Law, will do the same for you. We will aggressively enforce the law to stop robocalls and unsolicited text message. Not only will we stop the calls and text messages, but you may be entitled to money damages, too. Damages in TCPA cases range from $500.00 – $1,500.00 per call or text. 

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