Pizza Hut Australia served with $2.5 million fine for 10 million spam messages

Pizza Pan Group, trading as Pizza Hut Australia, has been fined $2.5 million for sending more than 10 million spam messages within four months.

The company sent more than 5.9 million texts and emails to customers who either had not consented or had withdrawn their consent to receive marketing from January to May last year, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). It also sent over 4.3 million messages without an unsubscribe option to customers during the same period.

“The public expects more from businesses who are using their data. They have a right not to be sent marketing messages if they haven’t consented or have chosen to unsubscribe,” said ACMA member Samantha Yorke.

Aside from the fine, Pizza Hut Australia will have to appoint an independent consultant to review its compliance with the rules for three years.

“The penalties for breaching can be very serious and all companies that conduct e-marketing should check that their compliance systems are working effectively so they’re not spamming customers,” Yorke added.

Several other retailers, including Luxottica, Outdoor Supacentre, DoorDash, Ticketek, Uber and Kmart, were recently penalised for a similar offence.

Over the last 18 months, businesses have paid more than $15 million for their spam law breaches, the ACMA stated.

This article was first published by Inside Retail.

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