[:en]A few days ago, the Court of Cassation addressed a topic that is now part of everyday language: spam. This activity, also known as the "chain letter"is a vehicle used by many companies in order to recruit the largest number of people for economic purposes. The classic example and technique used is to entice surfers to subscribe to a service in exchange for a
homage.

In an attempt to stop this practice, the Supreme Court has ruled that the behaviour of website owners who focus their business on paying incentives to subscribers for the sole purpose of get data from new subjectsis to be regarded as unlawful in fact.

Specifically, the Court stated with Judgment No. 37049 of 2012, that "the conduct of the owner of websites focusing on the payment of incentives to members on the basis of the mere recruitment of new persons rather than on the sale of specific goods or services is unlawful".

The basis of this reasoning is mainly centred on the prohibition of 'pyramid selling' in theArticle 5 of Law 173/2005. This practice, in fact, is based on the propaganda activities of core business structures, focused exclusively on increasing the ranks of users and not on the promotion of any service or product.

Importantly, this practice is also unlawful if themembership is voluntary, since, as the Court states, 'the incriminating provision does not require involuntary adherence as a precondition for the existence of the offence'.

Interesting to see how this principle can and will be applied to the new world of social-network, certainly very suitable platforms for the development of such activities.

 

 

 

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