Officials in Australia have fined Pizza Hut $2.5 million for sending customers spam text messages and emails over a four month period.
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The Australian Communications and Media Authority conducted an investigation whre they discovered that the American pizza chain was sending 5.94 million text messages from January to May last year to customers who either did not consent to recieve marketing messages or had withdrawn their consent. Additionally, their investigation revealed tht 4.36 million marketing messages were sent without an option for recipients to unsubcribe.
“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. She added that it was inexcusable for the company to fail to comply with Australia’s spam laws, which have been in place for over 20 years, as reported by 9News.
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In response to the fine, Pizza Hut said in a statement that it is committed to appointing an indepedent consultant to review and improve its compliance with the country’s spam laws. Also, it will provide frequent reports to the AMCA on its progress.
“We sincerely apologise to everyone who was contacted without their consent. A system error led to this problem, we would never knowingly seek to cause inconvenience to our customers. We are committed to working with the ACMA and an independent consultant to review and improve our marketing communication practices, in line with the legislation and our customers’ expectations,”
