TCPA Bites Political Speech Again: Trump Campaign Sued for Alleged Illegal Robotexts
Wednesday, October 28, 2020

As we’ve been covering, the TCPA is a major threat to political campaigns looking to deliver last minute messages. And though we’ve been covering this story-and pumping out content and information–the political robocalls and texts keep coming.

Here’s the latest edition to the story: the Donald J. Trump Campaign has been sued for allegedly illegal robotexts. In the suit filed in federal court in New York, Donald J. Trump For President, Inc. is facing a lawsuit alleging that it sent campaign messages to a New York man without his consent.

The complaint seeks unspecified damages but the TCPA authorizes up to $1,500.00 per illegal call or text.

Media reports suggest that the Trump campaign was deploying P2P text messaging following the FCC’s ruling authorizing the use certain P2P technology outside of the TCPA earlier this year. It is unclear whether the texts at issue in the new suit were sent using P2P technology, however the complaint alleges the texts were sent using an “automated telephone dialing system.”

The complaint is here: Rowan complaint

TCPA class actions targeting political campaigns have become more common over the years and politicians of both parties are frequently targeted. Notably this is not the first time the Trump campaign has faced TCPA litigation for allegedly unconsented spam messages. The campaign was embroiled in litigation in Minnesota earlier this year.

The Supreme Court recently rejected a challenge by a group representing the interests of political campaigns that the TCPA is unconstitutional as applied to political speech. 

We’ll keep an eye on this.

 

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