Remember The CAN-SPAM Act? The FTC Does. Practical Takeaways From The FTC's Recent CAN-SPAM Enforcement Action

On August 14, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) entered a stipulated settlement with Experian Consumer Services to resolve allegations that Experian violated the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act of 2003 when it sent marketing emails disguised as transactional or informational messages. Under the settlement, Experian will pay a $650,000 civil penalty and be subject to injunctive provisions prohibiting similar practices in the future. According to the FTC complaint, there were two omissions in the defendant's emails: "[T]he emails do not provide notice of consumers' ability to opt out of receiving further promotional messages or a mechanism for doing so."