Could spam emails be considered harassment?

Spam can fill up up inboxes and it sometimes even escapes spam filters. Whether recipients signed up for particular mailing lists or not, unsolicited commercial email is not necessarily considered harassment. But the specific content of the email could very well turn that around.

The Laws Surrounding Spam

The most common sources of spam emails are marketing campaigns. Companies that use email marketing as a way to reach out to customers and nurture new, potential leads use specific software like Campaign Monitor, Aweber, or Mailchimp to send their “campaigns”. There are acts in many countries – CAN-SPAM for the United States, CASL for Canada, and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations in the United Kingdom – that outline exactly what is lawful and unlawful email behavior. For the most part, spam emails cannot be considered harassment. Of course, if their content can be construed as constituting harassment, making threats, or subject the receiver to online abuse then, yes, in these cases, the email content itself is harassment.

Do Spam Emails Constitute Harassment?

Unsolicited commercial emails are growing in sophistication and the problem is that spam emails are frequently the initiators of a phishing scam. It’s not just the specific content of the email that can turn spam emails to harassment. There are also other indicators. For example, harassment requires that the individual be targeted. A spam email is usually blind copied to thousands of other recipients – which means that the “to” field won’t include a recipient’s email address. But, if the “to” field has only one particular email, then this, coupled with the content could make this grounds for harassment. For those looking for options in responding to online harassment, there are various groups to consult with, including Spamcop and The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email.

Threatening emails constituting online abuse and harassment, however, require a much more serious response. There are investigative firms that also offer legal counsel, providing a more professional opinion on whether criminal activity is underway and whether it can be followed up on with legal action.