The ACMA isn’t letting companies off the hook easily if it finds they’ve spammed customers and/or made it hard for them to opt-out of marketing they probably never agreed to in the first place.
The latest company in hot water for doing such a thing is MyCar Tyre & Auto, the company formerly known as Kmart Tyre & Auto.
MyCar Tyre & Auto has paid just over $1 million as a penalty for sending out more than 1.7 million emails and texts that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said did not comply with Australia’s spam laws.
An investigation by the ACMA found that between January and August 2022, MyCar sent over 1.45 million texts and emails without a functioning unsubscribe facility.
In addition, a further 276,000 emails were sent by MyCar that had an unsubscribe function, but an individual had to provide their vehicle registration details to opt out of receiving further messages. There was also nearly 5,000 messages sent to individuals the ACMA said had previously asked to unsubscribe from electronic marketing.
“This is unacceptable, especially from a well-established national retailer,” ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said in a statement.
The ACMA said it has accepted a three-year court-enforceable undertaking from MyCar committing it to an independent review of its e-marketing practices and to implement improvements. MyCar must also provide regular compliance reports to the ACMA and train its staff on Australia’s spam laws. The total penalty was $1,047,000.
MyCar’s penalty follows the Commonwealth Bank of Australia earlier this month paying a penalty for also failing to comply with Aussie spam laws. The ACMA found the yellow and black bank sent more than 61 million marketing emails to customers that unlawfully required them to log-in to unsubscribe. The bank was fined $3.55 million.
Over the past 18 months, the ACMA has raked in $11 million in penalties from companies breaching spam and telemarketing laws. The ACMA has also accepted nine court-enforceable undertakings and given one formal warning.