Uber Australia slapped with $412,500 fine for spam

The news: The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has slapped a fine on rideshare and food delivery firm Uber’s local arm for breaching Australian spam laws.

The numbers: Uber Australia has paid a $412,500 infringement notice after the regulator found it sent over 2 million marketing emails to customers without an unsubscribe facility. More than 500,000 of the messages were sent to customers who had previously unsubscribed.

The context: The emails were sent on a single day in January 2023 as part of an advertising campaign for an alcohol home delivery service. The investigation found that the breaches occurred because Uber mis-characterised the emails as non-commercial. ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said it was unacceptable that a company like Uber that conducts high volume marketing did not have robust systems in place to consistently and accurately categorise consumer messages.

What they said: “Consumers are fed up with their wishes not being respected. People rightly expect to have choice over who contacts them for marketing purposes,” Ms O’Loughlin said.