Canadian Agencies Remind Mobile App Companies of their Obligations under Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation

On November 26, 2020, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, and the Competition Bureau jointly announced that the agencies sent 36 letters to mobile app companies as part of a Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) compliance awareness-raising campaign.

The letter reminded the companies of their CASL obligations and recommended that the app companies take steps, where necessary, to revise their practices to ensure compliance with CASL.  The letter also provided examples of mobile app practices that may violate CASL, including:

• Apps that make false or misleading representations to promote a product, a service, or a business interest;
• Apps that collect or use personal information, such as electronic addresses, without consent; and
• Apps designed to send out unsolicited commercial electronic messages once installed.

The letter also suggested that the companies may wish to adopt preventative measures, such as the development and implementation of a written corporate compliance program and robust client and app vetting practices.  A template version of the letter that was sent can be found here.

Summary By: Michelle Noonan