The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has been fined $3.55 million for sending over 65 million marketing emails that were challenging or impossible to unsubscribe from. The penalty, amounting to 0.0367 percent of CBA’s $9.673 billion profit in the 2021-22 financial year, is the largest ever imposed for violating the Spam Act 2003, as stated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
CBA distributed these marketing emails between November 2021 and November 2022. Out of the 65 million emails, 61 million required customers to log in to unsubscribe, 4 million had no functional unsubscribe option, and 5,000 were sent to individuals who had already unsubscribed.
ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin expressed concern over the scale and duration of CBA’s breaches, noting that the organization had received prior warnings and their remedial efforts were ineffective. O’Loughlin stated that CBA’s failure to address the issues demonstrated a complete disregard for spam regulations and customer rights.
In addition to the fine, CBA has committed to an independent review of its e-marketing practices through a court-enforceable undertaking. The bank is also required to provide regular compliance reports to the regulator and train its staff on spam laws. ACMA will closely monitor CBA’s compliance and the fulfillment of its commitments, with a warning that further action will be taken if future non-compliance is identified.
In the last 18 months, businesses have paid $11 million in penalties for violating spam and telemarketing laws. This includes notable fines such as cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s $2 million, Sportsbet’s $2.5 million, and Latitude Finance Australia’s $1.5 million. Enforcing rules regarding SMS and email unsubscribe practices is one of ACMA’s top priorities for compliance in the 2022-23 period.
ACMA’s research indicates that six out of ten Australians have received marketing emails from companies even after requesting to be removed from mailing lists.
