Crypto PAC hit with lawsuit for robocalls supporting pro-crypto candidates
The suit claims the PAC violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act
Rob Crandall/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks
The Crypto Freedom PAC is facing a lawsuit alleging it violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA.
The plaintiff in the suit alleges that he was “harmed by these calls. He was temporarily deprived of the legitimate use of his telephone, and his privacy was improperly invaded.”
He was also “charged for the calls…the calls injured Plaintiff because they were frustrating, obnoxious, annoying and a nuisance, and they disturbed the solitude of Plaintiff.”
The suit also alleges that the PAC used an Automatic Telephone Dialing System (ATDS). In a recent Third Circuit case, the court ruled that Congress passed the TCPA ATDS to “remedy” the issues around auto-dialing and that Congress “found autodialer technology to be uniquely harmful.”
The TCPA was enacted in 1991 and aims to restrict both telemarketing calls and artificial or prerecorded voice messages.
Within the TCPA, the plaintiff is alleging that the PAC violated TCPA 47 US 227, which clarifies that calls using a prerecorded or artificial voice cannot be used to deliver a message to the recipient without prior consent from the party receiving the call.
According to its website, the Crypto Freedom PAC aims to elect candidates “who will fight for crypto freedom” and will crack down on any “overreach” of digital assets by the government.
Specifically, in this upcoming election, the PAC is backing candidates who can unseat anti-crypto Democrats such as Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown.
It names three pro-crypto candidates — North Carolina’s Ted Budd, Arizona’s Blake Masters and Nevada’s Adam Laxalt — all of whom are running as Republicans.
Crypto is expected to become a focus in the upcoming elections as crypto regulation looms over the US.
Candidates including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Joe Biden have already discussed digital assets.
Kennedy Jr. tweeted last month that “It is a mistake for the US government to hobble the industry and drive innovation elsewhere. Biden’s proposed 30% tax on cryptocurrency mining is a bad idea.”
Meanwhile, Biden has said that the US can “reinforce American leadership in the global financial system.”
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