Political Advocacy Group American Edge Hit with Class Action Over Alleged Text Message Spam

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A proposed class action claims Facebook-backed political advocacy group American Edge has illegally sent automated text messages, including to Arizona residents, without consent.

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The 12-page lawsuit says that the organization, which lobbies for players in the tech industry, has engaged in an “unsolicited campaign of harassment” via text messages to promote its political agenda. According to the suit, the advocacy group has violated the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by making “text calls” to consumers’ cell phones, featuring an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a political message, without first obtaining authorization to do so.

The plaintiff, an Arizona resident, says she received from American Edge on August 30, 2021 a text call that included a video file that automatically downloaded to her phone and included an artificial or prerecorded voice. The case contends that the woman had no prior relationship with the organization and at no point gave her consent to be contacted.

The Federal Communications Commission, a government agency tasked with implementing the TCPA’s regulations, has stipulated that “political calls to cellular telephones using an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice are prohibited by the TCPA absent express consent of the recipient,” the complaint relays.

Each of the text calls at issue was made by the defendant without the requisite consent, the filing alleges.

The plaintiff claims that the unsolicited text call she received constituted an invasion of her privacy and caused “disruption to her daily life.”

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States who, at any time since October 31, 2019, received on their cell phone a text call via Multimedia Message Service (MMS) from American Edge, or anyone on its behalf, that used an audible artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message.

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