Latitude Finance Pays $3.96M Penalty for 2.7M Spam Law Breaches
Summary
The ACMA has found Latitude Finance Australia in breach of Australia's spam laws more than 2.7 million times between March 2024 and April 2025, resulting in a $3.96 million penalty. The company sent over 2.3 million marketing messages without accurate contact information and 344,416 messages lacked a working unsubscribe function. This is the second enforcement action against Latitude following a $1.55 million penalty in 2022.
What changed
The ACMA investigation found that Latitude Finance Australia breached Australia's spam laws over 2.7 million times between March 2024 and April 2025. The company sent more than 2.3 million marketing messages without accurate contact information, and 344,416 of those messages also lacked a working unsubscribe function despite telling recipients they could reply 'STOP'. This is the second enforcement action against Latitude, following a $1.55 million penalty in 2022 for similar contraventions.\n\nAffected entities that send marketing messages must ensure all commercial electronic messages include accurate sender contact information and a functioning unsubscribe mechanism. The size of this penalty reflects the ACMA's view of Latitude as a repeated offender with an inadequate compliance culture. Businesses should review their marketing message systems to ensure compliance with the 20-year-old spam laws, particularly if they have previously been subject to enforcement action. The ACMA has indicated it will closely monitor Latitude's compliance under the new court-enforceable undertaking.
What to do next
- Correct unsubscribe mechanisms in all marketing messages to ensure they function properly
- Appoint an independent consultant to review compliance with spam laws
- Provide regular and comprehensive compliance reporting to ACMA
Penalties
$3.96 million
Archived snapshot
Apr 14, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
Latitude Finance pays $3.96m for more spam breaches
15 April 2026
Latitude Finance Australia (Latitude) has paid a $3.96 million penalty after the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found the company breached Australia’s spam laws more than 2.7 million times.
The ACMA investigation found that between March 2024 and April 2025, Latitude sent more than 2.3 million marketing messages without accurate contact information, of which 344,416 messages also lacked a working unsubscribe function.
This is the second time the ACMA has taken enforcement action against Latitude for spam breaches. In 2022, the company paid a $1.55 million penalty for similar contraventions.
The latest breaches were identified through Latitude’s mandatory compliance reporting under a court‑enforceable undertaking entered into following the previous investigation.
ACMA member Samantha Yorke said the size of the penalty reflected Latitude’s repeated compliance failures.
“Latitude is now a two‑time offender and it is disappointing that it let consumers down again,” Ms Yorke said.
“The spam laws have been in place for more than 20 years, and there is simply no excuse for ongoing non‑compliance, particularly after a prior enforcement action.”
The messages promoted Latitude credit card products and financial services. While recipients were told they could reply ‘STOP’ to unsubscribe, many messages were not capable of being used in this way.
“Under Australia’s spam laws consumers have the option to unsubscribe from commercial messages, and that process must work,” Ms Yorke said.
“They must also provide accurate information within the message about how the sender can be contacted.”
The ACMA has accepted new court-enforceable undertakings from Latitude requiring it to appoint an independent consultant to further review its compliance with the spam laws and to undertake regular and comprehensive reporting to the ACMA.
“Given Latitude’s history of non-compliance, we will be very closely monitoring how it meets its obligations,” Ms Yorke said.
The ACMA has published guidance to assist businesses in understanding and meeting their obligations under the spam rules here.
Over the last 18 months businesses have paid over $10.6 million in spam penalties.
MR 11/2026
Related changes
Get daily alerts for ACMA Media Releases
Daily digest delivered to your inbox.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
About this page
Every important government, regulator, and court update from around the world. One place. Real-time. Free. Our mission
Source document text, dates, docket IDs, and authority are extracted directly from ACMA.
The summary, classification, recommended actions, deadlines, and penalty information are AI-generated from the original text and may contain errors. Always verify against the source document.
Classification
Who this affects
Taxonomy
Browse Categories
Get alerts for this source
We'll email you when ACMA Media Releases publishes new changes.
Subscribed!
Optional. Filters your digest to exactly the updates that matter to you.