Gmail’s disguised advertising emails are the target of the Noyb association, which is filing a complaint with the National Commission for Computing and Liberties (CNIL) against the technology giant.
The complaint against Google attacks direct marketing emails sent by Gmail without the prior consent of their recipients.
According to the association of Austrian activist Max Schrems, Google would act without taking into account a judgment of the CJEU about spam in e-mail boxes (inbox advertising). However, argues Noyb, “European legislation is already very clear: the use of e-mail for direct marketing purposes requires the user’s consent”.
Promotional emails that look like classic emails
Two types of spam are distinguished: external spam is filtered into a spam folder separate from the main mail, while spam from Google is sent directly to the user’s inbox. “This gives the impression that the user has subscribed to these emails or services, when in reality no consent has been obtained from the user,” explains the association.
Noyb insists that these are “advertisements disguised as e-mails”. The association argues that unsolicited advertising e-mails look just like regular e-mails.
The complainants ask the CNIL to carry out an investigation which will have to determine “who is the sender of the Gmail advertising e-mails, what data is collected and kept by these senders and Google, and how these senders can provide proof of the complainants’ consent. . »