Canada’s Anti-Spam Law – What Is A "Commercial Electronic Message" Anyway?

Canada's Anti-Spam Law ("CASL") is aimed at curbing the proliferation of unwanted, bulk electronic messages (commonly referred to as "spam" or "junk mail"). It does not stop there though. While the legislation is effective in capturing both traditional spam and junk mail, it also regulates all "commercial electronic messages", generally known as CEMs.

A CEM is a message sent by any means of telecommunication (e.g. text, sound, voice or image) to an electronic address (e.g. email account, instant messaging account or telephone account) if one of its purposes (even a minor purpose) is to encourage participation in a "commercial activity." This may even include communications across social media platforms.