The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has warned all businesses conducting e-marketing that they should be actively and regularly reviewing whether their marketing complies with Spam Act requirements.
It was reported yesterday that Ticketek Pty Ltd has paid a $515,040 infringement notice for sending around 98,000 texts and emails during 2022, that were in breach of Australian spam laws.
In August this year, DoorDash received a $2 million fine following ACMA’s findings that there was promotional content in commercial messages sent to unsubscribed customers (DoorDash had claimed these were 'solely factual' and therefore exempt from the Spam rules).
The ACMA commented yesterday:
“Even if the purpose of a message is to provide factual information to customers, if it also includes marketing content, or links to marketing content, it can only be sent with consent.”
The ACMA found that Ticketek had mischaracterised some emails as being non-commercial, when they contained links to Ticketek’s website and social media pages, which contained advertising material and promotions for upcoming events.
Spam Act compliance is one of the ACMA’s current compliance priorities. Businesses need to double-check their electronic messaging, consents, opt-ins and unsubscribe functions to ensure they do not breach Spam Act requirements.