Tired of ads by e-mail or text? Here’s how to get rid of it

Tired of receiving newsletters that you haven’t subscribed to? Text messages suggesting you change your plan or the latest innovation in Internet connection? There are solutions to stop being bothered. Small tour of the available options.

Let’s start with a little reminder of the law. THE’Article L.34-5 of the Postal and Electronic Communications Code prohibits sending commercial messages to a natural person without their prior consent. There is, however, one exception: if you have purchased a product or service from a company, that company may send you commercial emails for similar products or services if you have not objected to it. time of purchase. In other words, if you are not against it is because you are – implicitly – for.

Another important point, if when you opened an account on a site or acquired a loyalty card, you did not tick the box (es) indicating that you do not want your contact details to be used to send you information. A / the brand B / or its partners, you may receive many e-mails or commercial calls.

Unclog your mailbox

The Data Protection Act requires companies to integrate the possibility of unsubscribing into their newsletters and commercial e-mails. It usually appears as a clickable link. But, alas, it doesn’t always work. If you continue to receive emails after unsubscribing, you can seize the Cnil.

Another option to reduce the number of commercial newsletters you receive is to write to all the companies that have your details, asking them not to communicate them, as the Data Protection Act gives you the right to do so.

You can also send a report to the signal-spam.fr site if you believe that these messages are abusive. This site, created by public authorities, companies in the field of e-mailing and associations, also offers you plug-ins to install in your browser or email software to speed up these reports.

To quickly clean your mailbox of these commercial messages, you can also use services such as Free your inbox, Cleanfox or Unroll.me. Each of them works more or less the same way: they spot unread newsletters and offer you to unsubscribe with a click.

Counter advertising SMS and MMS

Almost everyone now has a smartphone in their pocket. It is therefore normal that brands have sought to invest in this tool to stay in contact with their customers. As for e-mails, you must -normally- have given your consent to a brand and, possibly, its partners to receive advertising SMS / MMS.

These SMS / MMS must comply with certain rules, in particular be sent from Monday to Saturday between 8 am and 8 pm excluding public holidays and include the words STOP.

It is she who will allow you to unsubscribe. But three different situations are possible:

• If the SMS comes from a 10-digit number, simply answer Stop. The taking into account should be automatic.
• If the SMS comes from a short 5-digit number and begins with a 3, you must also return the word Stop to this number. Be careful, if the number starts with a 6, a 7 or an 8, the SMS you send may be surcharged.
• If the SMS comes from an identified sender, a sign, an ISP or other, the word Stop must be sent to a short number mentioned in the text of the message.

Obviously, some do not respect these rules. If, despite your request, you continue to receive messages, you can forward them to 33700, the number of the voice and SMS spam prevention platform. This will forward your report to the mobile operator issuing the number used for spamming as well as to your mobile operator (if it is not the same). They can then carry out various actions:

• Cut the surcharged SMS number to which the spammy SMS prompts you to send a message
• Cut the premium rate phone number that the spammy SMS tempt you to call
• Cut the sending number of spam
• In the most serious cases, a complaint can be made to the police services concerned and to the CNIL.

You can also act directly on your smartphone to ban these SMS.

For Android: in the Messages tool, go to Settings, activate the spam filter and fill in the different sections. Another option, when you receive an SMS to be filtered, keep your finger pressed on the message in question and click on the icon in the form of a crossed out circle at the top of the screen, then on Add to spam numbers.

On iOS: in Messages, open the conversation click on the i. At the bottom of the information screen, choose Block this correspondent.

If, despite all these tips, you continue to receive newsletters, commercial emails and advertising SMS, all you have to do is create a “trash” email address and change your phone number …