Optus pays second-largest ACMA fine of over $500,000 for spamming unsubscribed consumers with marketing messages

January 31, 2020 10:18

Optus – which just last week was named Australia’s ‘strongest’ brand – has paid a fine totalling more than $500,000 after an Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) investigation found the telco giant breached spam laws by sending unsubscribed consumers SMS and email marketing messages.

The $504,000 fine is the second largest ever paid to ACMA and the largest for spamming, and is in response to repeated breaches across a six month period in 2018. The biggest fine was issued to Telstra in 2014, a $510,000 charge for failing to connect new landline customers on time.

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Brittney Rigby

Brittney Rigby was Mumbrella's deputy managing editor - news and analysis. She left Mumbrella in April 2021.

Topics

ACMA Andrew Sheridan Australian Communications and Media Authority e-marketing fine Nerida O'Loughlin Optus spam spamming

1 COMMENTS

GUS 31 Jan 20

Seems a bit unfair to go after the big Australian employers when people like Groupon seem to do this relentlessly (try 5 emails per day) despite multiple unsubscribe requests. How do they get away with it? #inconsistent

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