Australia: Issued ruling in ACMA investigation into DoorDash over spam breaches

On 16 August 2023, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) issued a ruling in its investigation into DoorDash, imposing a fine of AUD 2 million for spam breaches. DoorDash is a San Francisco-based company that runs an online platform for ordering and delivering food. The ACMA examined whether DoorDash has sent email and SMS messages to its consumers and contractors without obtaining their consent or providing them with the option to unsubscribe. The ACMA has found that in the period from February to October 2022, DoorDash had dispatched over 566’000 promotional emails to customers who had previously unsubscribed from such communications. Additionally, the company had transmitted more than 515’000 text messages to potential drivers, lacking an available option to unsubscribe. Furthermore, the investigation found that DoorDash misrepresented texts as non-commercial, but they contained promotional content. Besides the imposed penalty, DoorDash also committed to a three-year undertaking, including an independent compliance review.