Hello Fresh whacked with £140k fine over millions of spam emails
Meal-kit delivery company Hello Fresh has been whacked with a £140k fine for a campaign of 79 million spam emails and one million spam texts over a seven-month period.
Customers were not given sufficient information that their data would continue to be used for marketing purposes for up to 24 months after cancelling their subscriptions, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said.
An investigation by the ICO began in March 2022 following complaints made directly to the regulator, as well as to the 7726 spam message reporting service.
As part of this investigation, it was also discovered that the company continued to contact some individuals even after they had requested this to stop.
The marketing messages were sent based on an opt-in statement which did not make any reference to the sending of marketing via text.
Whilst there was a reference to marketing via email, this was included in an age confirmation statement which the ICO said was “likely to unfairly incentivise customers to agree”.
Andy Curry, head of investigations at the ICO, said Hello Fresh breached the “trust of the public”.
“Customers weren’t told exactly what they’d be opting into, nor was it clear how to opt-out,” he said.
“From there, they were hit with a barrage of marketing texts they didn’t want or expect, and in some cases, even when they told Hello Fresh to stop, the deluge continued.”
He added: “In issuing this fine, we are showing that we will take clear and decisive action where we find the law has not been followed. We will always protect the right of customers to choose how their data is used.”