The French SA fines SOLOCAL 900 000 €

Background information

• Date of final decision: 15 May 2025
• National case
• Controller:  SOLOCAL MARKETING SERVICES
• Legal Reference(s): Article 7 (Conditions for consent), Article 6 (Lawfulness of processing)
• Decision: administrative fine and an order to cease electronic commercial prospecting in the absence of valid consent, together with a penalty of 10 000 € per day overdue after a period of 9 months
• Key words: administrative fine, consent,  unsolicited communication

Summary of the Decision

Origin of the case  

As the French Supervisory Authority (SA) made commercial prospecting a priority topic for investigations in 2022, it focused on the practices of professionals in the sector, particularly those who resell data, including the many intermediaries in this ecosystem known as data brokers. The French SA carried out investigations on SOLOCAL MARKETING SERVICES which got prospect data mainly from data brokers, publishers of game contests and product testing sites (these actors are the first links in the chain, the primary collectors, who are responsible for collecting prospect data). SOLOCAL MARKETING SERVICES used this data to operate commercial prospecting by SMS or e-mail to individuals concerned, on behalf of its advertiser customer. It may also pass on some of this data to its customers, so that they can carry out their own commercial prospecting by telephone or post.

Key Findings 

Failure to comply with the obligation to obtain the consent of individuals to receive commercial prospecting by electronic means (Article L.34-5 of the French Post and Electronic Communications Code): The restricted committee considered that the misleading appearance of the forms used by data brokers made it impossible to obtain free and unambiguous consent, in compliance with the requirements of the GDPR, which would have formed the basis for the prospecting operations carried out by the company.
Failure to demonstrate that the data subject has consented to processing of his or her personal data (Article 7 of the GDPR): The company failed to provide the French SA with proof of consent from individuals whose data has been transferred to it by one of its main suppliers. As a result, the French SA was unable to examine the collection forms used by this supplier and, therefore, the validity of the consent of the data subjects.

Decision 

Based on the findings of the inspection, the restricted committee – the French SA body responsible for issuing sanctions – considered that the company had failed to comply with obligations under the French Post and Electronic Communications Code (CPCE) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regarding the collection and proof of consent. 
It imposed on SOLOCAL MARKETING SERVICES: 

• a 900 000 € fine which was made public; and
• an order to cease electronic commercial prospecting in the absence of valid consent, together with a penalty of 10 000 € per day overdue after a period of 9 months. 

The amount of this fine takes into account the very large number of people concerned (several million), the company's historical position on the market, the financial benefit derived from the breaches, and the measures taken by the company to comply with some of its obligations since the checks were carried out.

For further information: 
•  Courtiers en données : sanction de 900 000 euros à l’encontre de la société SOLOCAL MARKETING SERVICES (French)
•  Data brokers: SOLOCAL MARKETING SERVICES fined €900,000 (English)