verdict
ECJ: Disguised advertising in mailboxes may be inadmissible
According to a ruling by the European Court of Justice, advertising messages disguised as e-mails can violate EU law. Photo: Silas Stein / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
A German electricity provider placed advertisements in many mailboxes that looked confusingly similar to real e-mails. Now the ECJ has decided which limits apply.
According to a ruling by the European Court of Justice, unsolicited advertising messages disguised as e-mails in the mailbox may violate EU law.
Due to the risk of confusion with real emails, people could be forwarded to advertising sites against their will, the ECJ announced on Thursday in Luxembourg. So-called inbox advertising, which looks almost like a regular e-mail in the inbox, is only permitted if the user has expressly consented to receiving such messages in advance (case C-102/20).
Reason for the judgment
In the specific case, the Städtische Werk Lauf an der Pegnitz had objected to advertisements of the competing electricity supplier Eprimo by e-mail to users of the free e-mail service from T-Online. This advertising measure violates the rules on unfair competition. The Federal Court of Justice submitted the dispute to the ECJ.
The advertising messages were therefore displayed when the mailbox was opened. Both the users concerned and the advertising displayed were selected at random. According to the information, they only differed visually from the real emails in the mailbox by little things that were barely recognizable for many: Instead of the date, it said “Advertisement”, the text was highlighted in gray and the subject line consisted of a short advertising text.
The ECJ has now announced that the display of such advertising messages in the mailbox could represent an unsolicited message for so-called direct advertising within the meaning of the data protection directive for electronic communication. It is possible that the electricity supplier’s approach could affect the directive’s aim of protecting the privacy of users from unsolicited advertising.
Inbox advertising is comparable to spam
According to the ECJ, inbox advertising without consent is comparable to inadmissible spam emails. If it appears frequently and regularly, it could also be regarded as “persistent and undesirable addressing” which is impermissible under competition law.
The T-Online e-mail service is offered either for a fee and without advertising or free of charge and financed by advertising. After the judgment of the European Court of Justice, the Federal Court of Justice must now decide on the specific case. This would have to clarify whether the exact characteristics of the advertising had been properly informed and approved.