UK ICO Fine BT Spam Emails

On Jun. 20, UK ICO fined BT £77k for sending mass spam emails.

  • BT sent five million nuisance emails to customers without consent of customers.
  • Breached reg 22 of Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (2003).

Alleged Violations

  • Between Dec. 2015 and Nov. 2016, sent emails promoting three charity causes.
  • Emails for Giving Tuesday and Stand up to Cancer were found unlawful, but BT
    disputed the assessment that My Donate emails were direct marketing or spam.
  • UK ICO found all emails sent constituted marketing, were not service messages.
  • This particular investigation was prompted by a concerned member of the public.