Online trading app Robinhood has made another attempt to dismiss a lawsuit about its allegedly spammy refer-a-friend marketing campaign.
As FX News Group has reported, Cooper Moore has taken Robinhood to Court after he received an unsolicited message encouraging him to invest with the company.
Moore explains that, to attract new customers, Robinhood recruits its existing customers to send spam texts through the Robinhood app to people who never consented to receive the texts. The Robinhood app’s functionality enables its users to initiate the referral texts, recommends which contacts should receive the referral texts, composes the texts, provides user-specific links that the recipient can use to sign up for Robinhood’s services, formats the texts, and provides images for the texts.
Cooper Moore, who resides in Washington state, received one of these spam texts from Robinhood without providing his consent to receive the marketing text asking him to join Robinhood.
Plaintiff alleges that Robinhood’s spam texts violate CEMA which specifically prohibits companies like Robinhood from sending spam texts to Washington residents without consent. A violation of the CEMA is a per se violation of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act, Wash. Rev. Code 19.86 et seq. (CPA).
Unlike the TCPA, under the CEMA it makes no difference if Robinhood or its customers “initiated” the text, Moore notes. The CEMA prohibits both initiating and assisting in the transmission of commercial electronic text messages to Washington residents without their consent. “Assisting” is defined broadly to include, among other things, “composing” and “formulating” the messages.
The problematic message. Name of sender removed for privacy concerns.