The ICO has fined telecoms company EE Limited £100,000 for sending over 2.5 million direct marketing messages to its customers, without consent.
The messages encouraged customers to access and use the ‘My EE’ app to manage their account and also to upgrade their phone.
During the ICO investigation EE stated the texts were sent as service messages and were therefore not covered by electronic marketing rules. However the ICO found the messages contained direct marketing and that the company sent them deliberately, although acknowledges that EE Limited did not deliberately set out to breach electronic marketing laws.
This action by the ICO shows the importance of having clear definition between service based communications and marketing. Using a service based communication to carry marketing may result in a fine unless you have consent to send marketing.
24th June 2019