Israeli Court Rules Digital Receipts With Ads Are Not Illegal Spam

A district court in central Israel has dismissed two class-action lawsuits against supermarket chain Shufersal and McDonald's franchisee Aloniel, ruling that digital receipts containing marketing content are not illegal spam. Judge Carmit Ben Eliezer stated that when a consumer requests a digital receipt, including reasonable marketing content similar to that on a printed receipt does not automatically make the message prohibited advertising.

The applicant, who filed the lawsuits, had claimed that both companies violated the "Spam Law" by sending advertising without explicit written consent. He argued that after providing his mobile number for a digital receipt, he received a message with a link to the receipt, which then contained promotional material. For Shufersal, this included an invitation to join their customer club, and for McDonald's, it involved advertising banners and links even after he attempted to skip consent screens.

In its defense, Shufersal and Aloniel argued that the messages were sent legally, at the customer's request, and did not contain prohibited advertising but rather standard content found on printed receipts. The court agreed, determining that the primary purpose of the digital message was to provide the requested service and information, with any advertising component being secondary and minor.

Judge Ben Eliezer further noted that the digital receipt's content and format were identical to a printed one, for which there is no legal prohibition on including advertising. Since the customer requested the digital document, the court found an assumption of consent to receive the document as is, including reasonable promotional content.

The applicant was ordered to pay a total of 60,000 shekels in legal costs, 30,000 to Shufersal and 30,000 to Aloniel. The applicant's attorney, Eli Schwartz, stated that he believes the ruling is incorrect both legally and factually and that an appeal to the Supreme Court is planned.