The Information Commissioner’s Office has come out fighting following last month’s embarrassing defeat in the Upper-tier Tribunal against Experian by hailing a First-tier Tribunal victory against a recruitment firm which has failed to quash a £130,000 fine issued in April 2023.
The case against Join the Triboo followed an ICO investigation that found the online firm had sent more than 107 million spam emails to 437,324 people between August 2019 and August 2020, meaning each individual would have received on average 244 emails during that year.
The regulator found the firm in breach of the Privacy & Electronic Marketing Regulations (PECR) but the business appealed the fine.
In a judgment handed down last week, the Tribunal dismissed the appeal after finding that Join the Triboo’s privacy policy was “poorly signposted”, and that registration alone could not be treated as consent to direct marketing.
Join the Triboo must now provide current consent statements and privacy policies for the Tribunal to consider before it makes its decision on whether the enforcement notice should be upheld.
Interestingly, the ICO rarely comments on these cases but give the recent high profile loss against Experian the regulator appears keen to flex its muscle.
ICO head of investigations Andy Curry said: “We are pleased the Tribunal has agreed that Join the Triboo did not properly seek permission from the people it chose to bombard with spam emails. This judgment acknowledges the intrusive nature of unsolicited direct marketing, which can be a huge invasion of privacy.
“All organisations sending direct marketing messages are responsible for ensuring they have valid consent to contact every recipient.
“By defending our decisions through the appeals process and accepting the valuable scrutiny of the Tribunal, we continue to protect the public from predatory marketing and remind organisations breaking the law that we will pursue every case to the fullest extent.”
It is not known whether Join the Triboo will now take the case to the Upper-tier Tribunal.
Related stories
ICO left with egg on its face as Experian sees off appeal
ICO appeals Experian ruling; ‘Tribunal got law wrong’
Experian ruling: ‘Industry can keep calm and carry on’
Experian claims victory as Tribunal blasts ‘flawed’ ICO
Where will we be in 2023…with data-driven marketing?
Experian lawyers set for long battle against ICO ruling
Experian given ultimatum to delete dodgy data or else
