Brand Link Media fined $12,600 for breaching Spam Act

Victorian marketing company and business loan provider Brand Link Media has paid a $12,600 fine to regulator ACMA for sending spam emails without the consent of consumers.

The company has also submitted an enforceable undertaking to take steps to ensure compliance with Australia’s Spam Act, after admitting it was unable to demonstrate that it had obtained consent to send 119 commercial electronic messages.

These commitments include appointing an independent expert to evaluate the company’s current policies and practices against compliance with the Act and submit a report recommending improvements.

This review will seek to ensure that all commercial emails sent by Brand Link Media be sent with consent of the recipient, and that recipients are able to opt out of receiving future commercial emails.

Brand Link Media has also agreed to commission and deploy a new central customer relationship management system developed by an established software vendor, and use the new system to dispatch all its commercial emails and manage all unsubscribe requests.

ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said the investigation into Brand Link Media was considered to be a priority for the regulator due to the fact that the company operates several websites offering short-term business loans.

“We are particularly concerned about e-marketing that involves financial services. The ACMA has been looking closely at these types of businesses,” she said.

ACMA said that with the fine, businesses have now paid a total of $415,200 in infringement notices for breaking spam and telemarketing laws for the past 12 months.

Action taken by the regulator on unsolicited communications — including electronic spam and violations of the Do Not Call Register (DNCR) Act — over the first quarter of calendar 2019 included formal warnings issued to Ticketek and PreLegal Pty Ltd, as well as the commencement of seven investigations and the finalisation of six more.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/vladimirfloyd

Please follow us and share on Twitter and Facebook. You can also subscribe for FREE to our weekly newsletter and quarterly magazine.