FCC Cites First National Bank, Lyft for TCPA Violations; O'Rielly Slams Action
First National Bank and Lyft were issued citations by the FCC Enforcement Bureau, putting the companies on notice of violations of rules to protect consumers against unwanted autodialed text messages, a commission release said Friday. "First National Bank requires its…
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online banking and Apple Pay customers to agree to receive autodialed telemarketing texts in order to use its services," the release said. "Lyft purports to allow consumers who sign up for its ride-sharing service to opt out of receiving autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing calls and texts, but does not allow users to access the service if they do exercise their right to opt out of marketing calls and texts. Both of these companies' practices violate the Commission’s rules implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act." In its citations/orders (here and here), the bureau directed First National Bank (also known as F.N.B. Corp.) and Lyft to take immediate steps to comply with the rules or possibly be liable for significant penalties. First National Bank emailed a response: "Our policies generally allow all customers to opt out of marketing information; however, we are unfamiliar with the details since we were just made aware of the issue and have not yet received any formal communication from the FCC. We will immediately investigate the issue and are fully committed to ensuring that we continue to comply with the consumer rights laws and regulations." Lyft emailed: "This is the first we are seeing of the order and are in the process of reviewing it. We look forward to working with the FCC to resolve this issue." Commissioner Mike O'Rielly issued a statement that said the enforcement action "showcases once again the Commission’s complete cluelessness when it comes to the tech economy, missing the point about how these free, popular, and entirely optional services actually work. The Bureau is targeting two innovators who are putting power in consumers’ hands to pay for their groceries or locate a safe ride directly from their mobile phones, for communicating with their customers on mobile phones. These citations are sure to be just the first of many harmful real-life effects of the Commission’s march to drastically expand the scope of the TCPA. No one likes unwanted robocalls, but tech-savvy Americans are in for an unpleasant shock when they find the Commission’s action is slowly but surely eviscerating innovations they have come to rely on, and stopping future mobile breakthroughs in their tracks."