Australia · Digital marketing, spam and privacy
TAB penalty shows channel-specific opt-outs must flow through every system
TAB paid more than $2.7 million after ACMA found telemarketing and spam breaches. The conduct included calls to numbers on the Do Not Call Register without consent, calls outside permitted hours, calls without required identification or purpose information, and more than 217,000 emails and SMS sent to customers who had unsubscribed from those specific channels. ACMA also accepted a court-enforceable telemarketing undertaking.
What this means
Understand the practical effect.
TAB paid more than $2.7 million after ACMA found telemarketing and spam breaches. The conduct included calls to numbers on the Do Not Call Register without consent, calls outside permitted hours, calls without required identification or purpose information, and more than 217,000 emails and SMS sent to customers who had unsubscribed from those specific channels. ACMA also accepted a court-enforceable telemarketing undertaking.
What to do
Turn the update into action.
Treat consent and withdrawal as channel-specific operational data. Make sure every campaign tool, call list, CRM, agency and suppression process applies the customer's current choice before contact, including where the customer has opted out of one channel but not all marketing.
- Store the source, scope, channel and date of consent and each withdrawal in a record used by every sending and calling system.
- Apply Do Not Call Register washing, permitted calling hours, caller identity and purpose scripts before telemarketing activity.
- Test unsubscribe and suppression propagation across email, SMS, call, loyalty, VIP, agency and manually uploaded lists.
- Use exception reports and pre-send sampling to detect stale extracts, failed synchronisation and repeat contact before a campaign is released.
Official sources
Check the controlling material.
Practical support
Apply this update to your business.
Confirm the products, customer journeys, claims, suppliers or processes affected, then identify the evidence, ownership and timing needed for a defensible response.
Watchdog can assess the update against your circumstances and recommend the most useful next step.
Important information
Check the current position.
This update is general information, not legal advice. Laws, official guidance and proceedings can change. Check the current source and your specific facts before acting.