Just Hype Slapped With £60,000 Fine After Sending Consumers Unwanted Texts

Just Hype received a £60,000 fine from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) after it sent more than 2 million unwanted texts messages to consumers.

ICO’s penalty notice says that the unwanted text messages about free face masks were sent by Just Hype between June 1, 2019 and June 12, 2020. Just Hype’s direct marketing campaign was brought to the ICO’s attention after consumers complained using the GSMA’s Spam Reporting Service.

After an investigation, Just Hype informed ICO that a third-party messaging system it was using had inadvertently sent messages to the 2 million unintended recipients. The messaging service had allegedly combined contact lists belonging to several companies, including Just Hype, resulting in message mishap.

In addition, the company agreed that information about marketing messages it sends by text could be made clearer on its checkout page, according to ICO’s penalty notice.

The checkout page contained an opt-out to marketing, points out the notice. This opt out is situated below an e-mail collection box; however, on the website where shipping information was collected, there was a box designed for collecting the customer’s telephone number.

“Whilst this box did state the individual would receive messages from the company, a ‘question mark’ symbol (‘?’) was contained within the box, that when hovered over, stated that Just Hype would only contact the customer about their order,” says the ICO notice. “Furthermore, an individual could not proceed without entering a number.”

Just Hype claimed that they relied on the email box and required phone number collection to obtain permission from consumers to send direct marketing texts. ICO determined that consumers would not reasonably expect to receive marketing messages based on Just Hype’s checkout page.

Further, the notice states that Just Hype used a “soft opt-in” to obtain consumer contact information for marketing purposes.

The “soft opt-in” is exempted from regulations requiring organisations to obtain consumer’s permission before sending them advertising messages; however, “[t]he organisation must also give the person a simple opportunity to refuse or opt out of the marketing, both when first collecting the details and in every message after that,” points out the penalty notice.

According to ICO, the £60,000 fine is much less than the maximum £500,000 that can be assessed for unwanted text messages. Just Hype can pay the fine early and receive a reduction or appeal ICO’s penalty.

Did you receive an unwanted text message from Just Hype? Tell us about it in the comment section below!

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