Uber slugged with $412,500 fine for breaching Australian email spam laws

Rideshare and delivery platform Uber has been slugged with a $412,500 penalty for sending two million emails to customers without an option to unsubscribe, in breach of Australia’s strict new anti-spam laws.

On Thursday, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said Uber violated regulations in January this year while promoting its alcohol delivery service.

Of the two million emails sent without an unsubscribe option, more than 500,000 were sent to consumers who had already opted out of promotional communications from Uber, ACMA said.

An ACMA investigation found the emails were sent without the correct unsubscribe function because of an internal miscategorisation by Uber itself.

Nerida O’Loughlin, ACMA chair, said the error was notable given the type of service Uber was trying to promote.

“We are particularly concerned about direct marketing that involves gambling, alcohol and ‘buy-now, pay-later‘ products and services that may lead to significant harm for people in vulnerable circumstances,” she said.

The $412,500 penalty comes two and a half years after amendments to the Spam Regulations 2021 (Cth) compelled businesses to streamline and simplify their subscription cancellation processes.

Since then, ACMA has not hesitated to penalise businesses accused of falling short.

DoorDash, one of Uber’s main competitors in the gig economy market, paid a $2 million fine in August this year.

The company was found to have sent over 500,000 to consumers, and another half a million text messages to would-be DoorDash drivers without the correct unsubscribe notices, ACMA said.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance also paid a $2 million penalty for spam breaches between October 2021 and May 2022.

ACMA has collected $11 million in penalties related to spam and telemarketing rule breaches over the past 18 months.

The Uber fine falls short of the hefty tolls paid by DoorDash and Binance, but O’Loughlin said the penalty clearly demonstrates the agency’s intent.

“We are actively monitoring Uber’s compliance and will not hesitate to take stronger action if it doesn’t comply in the future,” O’Loughlin said.

“This is a warning to all businesses conducting e-marketing that they should be actively and regularly reviewing their marketing to ensure it is compliant.”