That “Happy Birthday” message may cost Facebook plenty.
A Florida man has made a federal case out of unwanted birthday messages sent to him from Mark Zuckerberg’s social network giant.
Tampa-area resident Colin Brickman sued Facebook after receiving an unsolicited text message from the tech company reminding him of a friend’s birthday.
The text also invited Brickman to write on his friend’s timeline or simply “reply with 1 to post ‘Happy Birthday!’ ”
The suit, filed in San Francisco federal court, alleges the Facebook message violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which safeguards individuals against unwanted texts on their cellular phones.
The auto-dialed birthday text is technically a telemarketing message designed to “urge user interaction” and, by doing so, increase Facebook’s revenue, Brickman argues in his suit.
The TCPA requires senders of such messages to obtain “prior express consent” from those receiving them.
Facebook users can adjust their “Notifications Settings” to give such consent — but Brickman did not give his consent, the suit claims.
“Indeed, he provided the opposite of express written consent when he affirmatively indicated to Facebook that he did not want to receive any texts from Facebook,” the suit claims.
Brickman lawyer Patrick Perotti told The Post he had no idea how many will be involved in the class action suit but estimated at least 10 percent of Facebook’s 156 million US users have opted not to receive unsolicited texts.
If each of Perotti’s supposed class of 15.6 million opted out but received unwanted text messages, it could cost Facebook plenty.
The TCPA mandates a $500 fine for each violation — making Facebook, with a market cap of $290 billion, possibly liable for $406 billion in fines.
While such a hefty fine is very unlikely, a New York federal judge last week fined a local pizzeria $14,000 after it sent 28 unwanted marketing faxes.
Facebook declined to comment on the suit.