A lawsuit was filed against Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s campaign Friday alleging the Texas senatorial hopeful sent constituents text messages despite not receiving permission to do so.
Sameer Syeed, a resident of Collins County, filed the class action lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas Court, arguing the Beto for Texas campaign violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, reported The Star-Telegram.
The lawsuit alleges that Syeed received numerous unsolicited text messages from Beto for Texas and was unable to stop the automated messages despite both replying to the messages and reaching out to the listed phone number, only to get an error message or dial tone, according to The Star-Telegram. The suit further insists the campaign pay at last $500 per text message to the lawsuit’s plaintiffs.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act bans the use of “automated telephone equipment to send texts or calls to a person’s cellphone without their permission except for emergency purposes,” according to The Star-Telegram.
This is not the first time O’Rourke’s campaign has faced backlash for claims of inappropriate use of text messages. The campaign came under fire in September for allegedly sending a text message to voters asking for “volunteers to help transport undocumented immigrants” to the polls, according to The New York Times.
