The Australian ticketing company Ticketek was just forced to pay a hefty fine after violating the country’s spam laws.
According to an investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, Ticketek sent around 41,000 marketing texts and emails without the consent of recipients in 2022, along with 57,000 texts and emails to those that had already unsubscribed. The ticketer had already faced a formal warning for breaching the Spam Act back in 2019.
As a part of the infringement, Ticketek paid a fine of $515,040.
The investigation found these texts and emails included messages like: “See Australia take on Sri Lanka in the final two T20Is at the MCG on Feb 18 & 20,” followed by links to buy tickets. Emails included visuals to upcoming events with promotional messages like “a limited number of tickets have just been released — you don’t want to miss out!”
While Ticketek claimed in the investigation some of the emails were non-commercial — as they contained factual event information for ticketholders, making them exempt from spam rules — the ACMA found that the emails also contained advertising and promotional materials to upcoming events with links to Ticketek’s website and social media pages.
ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said in a statement that even if Ticketek’s goal was to provide factual information, “if it also includes marketing content, or links to marketing content, it can only be sent with consent.”
“It is also incredibly frustrating for people to take the time to unsubscribe only for those requests to not be actioned,” O’Loughlin said. “Businesses must have working systems in place to comply with consumer choice and consent.”
In an effort to cease these messages going forward, Ticketek has accepted a three-year court-enforceable undertaking where an independent consultant will review its compliance with spam rules. If needed, the company will make improvements when necessary. Throughout this time, Ticketek must also report to the ACMA.
As a part of the review, Ticketek will also train all relevant personnel on how to create and send messages to ensure its compliance with the Spam Act.
