Uber fined $412,500 for liquor-delivery promotional spam

Sean Cao

26th Oct 2023

Rideshare and food delivery company Uber Australia has paid a $412,500 fine for its violation of Australian spam laws.

The firm sent over 2 million marketing emails to customers without an unsubscribe facility on a single day in January, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). 

The emails, which were mischaracterised as non-commercial, were part of an advertising campaign for an alcohol home delivery service.

ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin described this as an “avoidable error”, adding that Uber did not have robust systems in place to consistently and accurately categorise consumer messages.

“This error was compounded by the fact that half a million of those messages were sent to people who had previously opted out.

“We are actively monitoring Uber’s compliance and will not hesitate to take stronger action if it doesn’t comply in the future,” O’Loughlin said.

An Uber spokesperson said the firm made a mistake and has worked collaboratively with ACMA to address and resolve it. 

“We apologise to everyone who was impacted by this oversight. We take seriously our obligations under the Spam Act, and we have introduced additional measures to prevent this from happening again.”

Uber’s penalty came after recent enforcement taken against other companies for similar offences, including Ticketek and DoorDash.

Businesses have paid over $11 million in fines for their spam and telemarketing breaches over the past 18 months, according to ACMA.