£60,000 fine for unsolicited text messages
Direct marketing. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has announced that it has issued a monetary penalty notice for £60,000 to a small business, Digital Growth Experts Ltd (D). According to the ICO, between 29 February and 30 April 2020, D sent unsolicited text messages to 16,190 individuals promoting a particular brand of hand sanitiser, claiming that it was “effective against coronavirus” .
Unlawful behaviour. However, not only had D failed to obtain valid consent to send marketing texts in breach of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) , the recipients’ contact details had been harvested from a separate online marketplace that belong to its sole director. Where a director has interests in multiple businesses, they can’t share client and customer information for marketing purposes between those businesses without the correct authorisation and consents. These must always be properly obtained. Further information on PECR compliance can be found in the ICO’s guidance (see The next step ).
For the ICO’s guide to the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, visit http://www.tips-and-advice.co.uk, Download Zone, year 22, issue 02.