Complaint Alleges Twilio Is Long-Term Originator of ‘Illegal Robocall Traffic’

in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco. Twilio has initiated hundreds of calls to Anthony’s cellphone, in violation of the TCPA, alleged his complaint. Though Anthony notified Twilio “countless times” that he listed his cellphone with the national do not call registry in May 2004, Twilio “continually harassed him by transmitting unlawful text messages and making illegal call after illegal call,” it said. The FCC in January 2023 determined that Twilio was originating illegal robocall traffic on behalf of one or more of its clients, it said. In its cease-and-desist letter, the FCC “mandated that Twilio take steps to address the illegal traffic, and take steps to prevent Twilio’s network from continuing to be a source of illegal robocalls,” it said. The FCC gave the company the “potentially devastating ultimatum” that failure to comply with the commission’s corrective measures “may result in downstream voice service providers blocking all of Twilio’s traffic, permanently,” it said. Twilio nevertheless refuses to implement a systemwide block to Anthony’s cellphone and continued to transmit, countless unlawful telemarketing calls and text messages to his cellphone, said his complaint. For example, in 2022, the Pennsylvania resident received prerecorded calls and text messages from a company called Fulcrum Home Solutions, but without his consent, it said. Anthony contacted Fulcrum, which “expressly identified Twilio as the service being used to generate prerecorded calls in violation of the TCPA,” it said. Despite the plaintiff bringing this to Twilio’s attention, the company “kept inundating him with unsolicited calls and text messages,” it said. Twilio acknowledges in its public filings with the SEC that its platform technology allows mass text messaging campaigns that violate the TCPA, said the complaint. Twilio’s October 2016 S-1 filing said that the company faces a risk of litigation resulting from “customer misuse” of its software to send unauthorized text messages in violation of the TCPA: “If we do not comply with these laws or regulations or if we become liable under these laws or regulations due to the failure of our customers to comply with these laws by obtaining proper consent, we could face direct liability.” Twilio knew its application program interface and its servers “were being used to violate the TCPA and, indeed, aided in the misuse of its API and servers,” as Anthony “continually notified Twilio of its malfeasance,” said the complaint. The defendant’s conduct “violates several sections of the TCPA,” it said. Anthony suffered injuries and is entitled to a minimum of $500 in damages for each violation of the TCPA, and up to $1,500 if Twilio’s violations are determined to be “knowing or willful,” it said.