Pizza Hut Australia has copped a $2,502,500 penalty following an investigation by industry watchdog, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) that found it was in breach of Australian spam laws.
ACMA found the restaurant chain sent over 10 million marketing messages in breach of spam laws across a four-month period.
Pizza Hut Australia sent 5,941,109 texts and emails from January to May 2023 to customers who either had not consented or had withdrawn their consent to receive marketing. During the same period, Pizza Hut Australia also sent customers 4,364,971 marketing messages without an option to unsubscribe.
Authority member Samantha Yorke said the figures were causing significant frustration for people. “Some of the customers involved had attempted to unsubscribe several times and received multiple messages after trying to stop them.
“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.
“The spam rules have been in place for over 20 years and there is simply no excuse for failing to uphold the rights of consumers. It is particularly disappointing when well-known businesses with large customer bases fail to meet their obligations in the way Pizza Hut has.”
As a result of the breach, Pizza Hut Australia is now required to regularly report to the ACMA.
The ACMA has accepted a comprehensive three-year court-enforceable undertaking from Pizza Hut which requires the business to appoint an independent consultant to review its compliance with ACMA’s rules and to make any necessary improvements where required.
Yorke reinforced that the ACMA is there to help people who receive unwanted spam by cracking down on noncompliant businesses.
“The penalties for breaching can be very serious and all companies that conduct e-marketing should check their compliance systems are working effectively so they’re not spamming customers,” she said.
The strike against Pizza Hut follows other, recent enforcement actions against companies like Luxottica, Outdoor Supacentre, DoorDash, Ticketek, Uber, and Kmart.
Over the last 18 months, Australian businesses have paid more than $15 million in spam and telemarketing penalties.
Last December, Telnyx Australia paid a $106,560 infringement notice and was put under a formal directive to adhere to industry regulations due to its non-compliance with anti-scam and public safety obligations from 2017 to 2022.
In March this year, the ACMA fined Optus $1,501,500 in penalties after it found the company had committed a large-scale breach of public safety rules between January 2021 and September 2023.
See also:
ACMA fines Optus $1.5 million for public safety failures
ACMA’s anti-scam crackdown continues as Telnyx hit with $106K fine