Facebook Sued For Bombarding Cell Phone User With 'Harassing Text Messages'

A District of Columbia resident has sued Facebook for allegedly violating a federal robo-texting law by bombarding her with SMS messages after she obtained a reassigned cell phone number.

Christine Holt, who doesn't have a Facebook account, says in her complaint that she began receiving unwanted text messages from the social networking service in mid-March, soon after she obtained a new cell phone from MetroPCS.

For the next four weeks, Facebook allegedly sent her "multiple" messages suggesting that she post status updates, although she asked the company to stop texting her.

"Defendant not only failed to obtain plaintiff’s consent when it began barraging her cellular telephone number with text messages, but it was also expressly informed that she did not consent to the text messages through her demands that they stop," Holt alleges in a complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco. "Despite her efforts, the harassing text messages continued."

Holt alleges that Facebook violated the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits companies from using auto-dialers to send text messages to people without their consent. She is seeking class-action status.

The Federal Communications Commission said last June that companies can only send one autodialed text to a reassigned number. If companies continue to send SMS messages to reassigned numbers, they could face damages of up to $1,500 per message.

Holt isn't the first person to accuse Facebook of sending SMS messages to the wrong recipient. Last year, New Mexico resident James Hamilton brought a similar case against the company, but withdrew it several months later.

Another person, Noah Duguid of Montana, also sued Facebook for sending him unwanted text messages. Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco dismissed Duguid's original complaint on the grounds that he didn't adequately allege that Facebook used an automated dialing system to send text messages. Duguid filed an amended complaint in that matter on Friday.

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