July 2 (Reuters) - Woolworths Group Ltd WOW.AX has been fined A$1 million ($691,000) for more than five million breaches of anti-spamming law, Australia's communications and media regulator said on Thursday.
The breaches over October 2018 through July 2019 involved sending marketing e-mails to consumers even after they had un-subscribed from its service, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said in a statement.
"Consumers claimed that they had tried to un-subscribe on multiple occasions ... but their requests were not actioned by Woolworths," ACMA Chair Nerida O'Loughlin said in the statement.
"The scale and prolonged nature of the non-compliance is inexcusable."
The regulator said the supermarket chain retailer had agreed to appoint an independent consultant to review its systems and report any other instances of non-compliance it finds.
The retailer, which last month said it had inadvertently underpaid staff, faces dwindling earnings as a result of coronavirus-induced restrictions on personal movement and business activity. share price was up as much as 0.8% at A$37.18 as at 0054 GMT. ($1 = 1.4472 Australian dollars)
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