LinkedIn fined 10,000 euro for sending communications without consent

The Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) has fined the professional social network LinkedIn 10,000 euro for sending communications to users without consent. It has violated article 21.1 of the Law on Information Society Services and Electronic Commerce (LSSI).

This article establishes that “the sending of advertising or promotional communications by email or other equivalent means of electronic communication that has not previously been requested or expressly authorised by their recipients is prohibited.”

According to the complaint, a user complained because she continued receiving emails from LinkedIn despite having requested to unsubscribe from the newsletter on several occasions. As evidence, she provided two copies of said petition, one from November 2022 and another from February 2023.

The user commented that although the network responded to the second request by telling her that they were going to stop sending content, the truth is that she continued to receive commercial notifications up to five times.

Thus, the AEPD transferred the claim to LinkedIn so that they could provide explanations within a month. But even though the notification was delivered, they did not give any type of response, so they initiated sanctioning proceedings considering that the LSSI had been violated.

So the AEPD proceeded, again, to inform them that they had initiated sanctioning proceedings, but they did not receive a response either.

Therefore, in accordance with article 64.2.f) of the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations, if the allegations are not made within the established period when it has a precise statement about the responsibility attributed, it can be considered a proposal for resolution.

In the present case, the agreement to initiate the sanctioning file determined the facts in which the accusation was made, the violation of the RGPD attributed to the person complained of and the sanction that could be imposed. So they decided to continue with the process.

The aforementioned infraction is classified as “minor” and is punishable by fines of up to 30,000 euro. But the AEPD, after the evidence obtained, established it at 10,000 euro.

The sanction is not final because it can be appealed before the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the National Court.

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