Conservative Party fined £10,000 for sending unwanted emails

Problem occurred when switching bulk email providers, Tories said

The Conservative Party has been fined £10,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for sending marketing emails to 51 people who had not consented to receive them.

According to the ICO, the party breached Regulation 22 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) 2003, which forbids sending marketing emails to people unless consent has been freely given.

Under PECR, the ICO can impose a financial penalty of up to £500,000 on a data controller.

The ICO said a total of 1,190,280 marketing emails were sent out between 24 July 2019 and 31 July 2019, after Boris Johnson became prime minister of Britain.

The messages addressed the recipients by name and described the priorities of the Conservative Party. They also contained a link that directed recipients to a website for joining the party.

The ICO received complaints from 51 individuals, who said they did not give permission to the Conservative Party to send such unsolicited emails to them.

Following the investigation, the commissioner found that there was not the necessary consent in place in case of those 51 complaints, although it concluded that not all emails were in breach of the PECR.

The Tories failed to ensure that records of individuals who had unsubscribed from the party's marketing emails were properly transferred when the party switched its email provider, the regulator said.

The party said it had recently changed its bulk email provider and the 'transfer of records had not been effected properly'. It claimed further that 'there are no available records' as the 'relevant employee' left shortly after the email campaign.

During the 2019 December general election, the Tories sent out nearly 23 million emails, which resulted in a further 95 complaints.

The regulator expressed concern over the 'industrial-scale marketing email exercise' by Tories while its investigation was still ongoing.

It added that it would continue to take action against 'nuisance marketing emails'.

Commenting on the decision, Stephen Eckersley, ICO director of investigations, said that sending messages to potential voters is important in democracy, but political parties must ensure that they do not violate laws when doing so.

"The Conservative Party ought to have known this, but failed to comply with the law," he added.

The Conservative Party said it accepted the fine and had also improved processes to be fully compliant with all data protection and electronic marketing rules in the country.