Quote:American Express Services Europe has been fined £90,000 ($127,377) by a U.K. regulator, which found the company illegally blasted out 4 million marketing emails to customers who had opted out of receiving them.
 
Critics said the fine, which is nominal for the multi-national financial brand, isn’t likely to do much to deter Amex, or any other company, from engaging in the practice.
 
Amex claimed the emails weren’t marketing messages, but service communications, which are allowed under U.K. information privacy regulations. However, an investigation by the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office found that out of 50 million emails Amex sent and classified as “service” emails over a 12-month period, 4,098,841 were marketing messages, “designed to encourage customers to make purchases on their cards which would benefit Amex financially. It was a deliberate action for financial gain by the organization,” the ICO announcement of the fine explained, adding the company continued the practice even following consumer complaints.