Apple is sending me illegal spam and I can't unsubscribe

Hi helloandyhihi! I just want to legitimize your issue here, that in spite of the unhelpful responses you've been receiving here, that you're not crazy, and this is not a bug. This seems to be a real legality issue that has newly arisen from Apple. I am in fact experiencing the exact same issue as you.

I called Apple, and am working with a senior support representative over the phone to get to the bottom of this. The reason Limnos has not received these marketing emails that cannot be unsubscribed is for two reasons. One is because according to the Apple support rep, this is a recent marketing campaign that does not fall under the 3 categories of emails that can be unsubscribed under Apple ID's "Messages from Apple" settings. Secondly, according to the Apple support rep, these types of emails are ONLY sent to customers who RECENTLY purchased a new Apple device. For example, one would have had to purchase a new MacBook in order to receive the free Apple Arcade marketing offer emails. If Limnos were to purchase a new MacBook right now, assuming the free Apple Arcade promotion is still running (I have no idea), these emails would be received in spite of being unsubscribed via Apple ID from all Apple promotional emails. Also, when purchasing the new MacBook, I did not opt in to anything related to Apple Arcade, hence, "unsolicited."

Again, I confirmed with the Apple support rep over phone and screen sharing that 1) the email is legitimate, not phishing, 2) it cannot be unsubscribed (there is no unsubscribe link in the email), 3) they are only sent to new purchasers during the free Apple Arcade promotion.

I will let you know if the senior support rep I'm working with finds out any more information about these unsubscribable emails. They are illegal, at least according to the U.S. CAN-SPAM ACT, because they are unsolicited marketing emails that do not provide any way to unsubscribe.

After confirming all of this with the support rep, it has only led to my conclusion that these emails are intentionally not allowed to be unsubscribed, and are therefore intentionally illegal.

Again, this is something NEW that is occurring due to a RECENT marketing campaign only affecting those of us who purchased SPECIFIC TYPES of new devices recently. How recent? I'm not sure exactly. I purchased my MacBook 2-3 months ago, and, like Limnos, never had a problem receiving any marketing emails from Apple as I unsubscribed via the Apple ID account page a LONG time ago.

See if there's anything more here --> Manage emails about Apple and Apple services - Apple Support

If you still have problems:

Click here --> https://support.apple.com/choose-country-region Select your country, then a product. If you don't see one that handles your issue then keep experimenting with selections until you reach one that gets you a chat session or a telephone call and get the representative to redirect you.

or:

Contact Apple for support and service --> "See a list of Apple phone numbers around the world."

Click here --> https://support.apple.com/HT201232

Sorry muguy, but you have provided absolutely zero evidence as to why these unsolicited, non-unsubscribable emails are legal. I have quoted the law that explains why they are illegal, at least in the United States, but I guess that wasn't good enough for you? Here you go, from https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/knowledge-base/is-it-illegal-to-not-have-an-unsubscribe-link/

"Digital life doesn’t happen within just one country’s borders, so when it comes to deciding whether or not it’s a law to have an unsubscribe link, there may be several laws or opinions to consider. One such law is the US’s CAN-SPAM legislation. This law, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, states clearly that you must include a clearly obvious way for subscribers to opt out of your commercial messages:

Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you. Your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future. Craft the notice in a way that’s easy for an ordinary person to recognize, read, and understand. Creative use of type size, color, and location can improve clarity. Give a return email address or another easy Internet-based way to allow people to communicate their choice to you. You may create a menu to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to stop all commercial messages from you. Make sure your spam filter doesn’t block these opt-out requests."

Limnos, thank you for your kind and thoughtful response. Very refreshing. I'm not really concerned that Apple sent me an email that looks like a marketing offer even though I'm permanently opted out of all Apple marketing offers. It is confusing if it's not a marketing email because everything about it makes it look like one, to me and many others. The main issue I have is that there is no way to opt out of these emails. I don't need a bunch of reminders to take advantage of an offer I don't need or want. I understand there are people that need and want it. That's the beauty of unsubscribe links in marketing. People who want the marketing offers stay opted in, and those who don't opt out.

The whole point of the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act is that a way to OPT OUT must be CLEARLY provided. That law seems to be violated by presenting an email that APPEARS to be a marketing offer - heck, it's got the word "offer" in the subject line, after all - and it's optional - and I never opted in - so just the mere fact that many customers are confusing this as a marketing offer with no way to opt out is in violation of the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act, which is designed to require corporate marketers to make things as clear as possible when it comes to opt-in/opt-out. It's supposed to eliminate ambiguity. Obviously Apple can probably get away with just about anything, especially because an individual is not allowed to sue over violations of the aforementioned law. It requires filing a complaint with the FTC, and they have to litigate against the company.

The chance of that happening is probably smaller than getting hit by lightning. So the only recourse is for us to use Apple's valuable, expensive support time - on the phone in my case - to try and let them know about all this. Large corporations care a lot about how their customer support time is being spent because it's one of their biggest expenses. So if enough people are spending enough time complaining or trying to get help about an issue, it's more likely for Apple to take action to resolve it - because it saves them money. Again, chance of that happening? Probably significantly higher than an FTC lawsuit, but still low, unless many customers are calling in. And I admit myself it's much easier and simpler to just not fight the system, whether it's right or wrong - like muguy said, just drop it and spend my energy elsewhere.

I've been conducting a personal experiment where I see how many legitimate companies I can unsubscribe from by contacting them when they are either not providing an unsubscribe link, it's broken, or I've already unsubscribed and continue to get email from them. I'm not referring to SPAM directly - my spam folder gets like 100 items / day in GMail. That's a lost cause - thanks Google AI for sorting that for me. I'm only referring to companies I do business with that have email opt-out issues. Hope that clarifies things. Thanks again for your response.

in some instances email subscription removals are not immediate and in some instances may take more than a week. I'm not sure what apples policy is

see this link:

https://support.apple.com/guide/mail/unsubscribe-from-mailing-lists-mlhld3405766/mac

No, I never get any kind of marketing emails from Apple. Not a single one ever.

Since the solutions people have proposed here do not seem to be working for you I really suggest you contact Apple about this.

I have the exact same problem. Even though I have all subscriptions turned off, I am getting spam about Apple TV despite the fact, I have never used the service, not even the trial version. I have contacted Apple using the GDPR contact form, but have not received any response.

my next guess is if you have another account forwarding these to that account.

The messages are not illegal. Seriously. If you're this bothered by email ... just delete them. Or, set up a rule and delete them.

Here's more if for some reason that's not good enough:

https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business

Me thinks thou doth protest too much.

You can unsubscribe. You did.

They are likely transactional based on something you did or have. Eg. If you iCloud and get an Apple One update, that's perfectly permissible.

Delete it and move on. Spend your energy on something else.

I'm very familiar as I ran email marketing campaigns. What I would do, when I heard from complainers, is take them off the list then add them back a week or two later as a new inquiry; just for kicks.

Great, thanks for letting me know that you illegally resubscribed complainers. That's relevant here because...?

Does this look like a "transactional" email to anyone here? I receive many transactional emails and they say at the bottom "this is a transactional email and you're receiving it for _____ reasons." This email has the word "offer", and once again, I did not OPT IN to anything related to Apple Arcade. You think I protest too much. That's your opinion. I'm looking at the law. I'm not sure why you want me to let this go, but it's disturbing and unwelcome. I'm in the process of trying to find out from Apple how to unsubscribe from these emails. Again, I will update here with more information if/when I receive it from Apple. If you don't care about the issue, as obviously some people here do not, then please go find a discussion about an issue that you do care about, and let those of us who are experiencing the issue and do care, collaborate and figure out why this is happening.

You already are unsubscribed.