False or Misleading Commercial Electronic Mail Messages
MN Commercial Email Law
Marketing
Prohibits commercial email that spoofs a third party's domain, misrepresents its origin or path, or has a false or misleading subject line, and requires unsolicited commercial email to start the subject line with 'ADV' ('ADV-ADULT' for adult content) and to offer a toll-free number or return address for opt-outs. By its own terms the section expires when federal law preempting state regulation of such email takes effect; the federal CAN-SPAM Act (2003) preempts state email laws except those addressing falsity or deception, so the labeling and opt-out requirements are likely unenforceable while the anti-falsity provisions remain.
- Where
- Minnesota
- Citation
- Minn. Stat. 325F.694
- Status
- In force
- In force since
- 2003-03-01
- Enforced by
- Injured recipients and email service providers by civil action; Attorney General remedies under 8.31 also preserved (325F.694, subd. 7)
- People can sue
- Yes
- Penalties
- Injured recipients may recover the lesser of $25 per message or $35,000 per day for falsity violations and the lesser of $10 per message or $25,000 per day for labeling violations; email service providers may elect actual or the same statutory damages; attorney fees may be awarded; class actions are barred (subd. 7).
- Applies to
- Persons who initiate commercial email sent through an ISP's facilities in Minnesota to a Minnesota resident (325F.694, subd. 1(b))
What a privacy notice must say
- Unsolicited commercial email must begin its subject line with 'ADV' (or 'ADV-ADULT'), unless the recipient consented or has a business or personal relationship with the sender.Minn. Stat. 325F.694, subd. 3 · Only if: Likely preempted by the federal CAN-SPAM Act, 15 U.S.C. 7707(b)
Practices it requires
- Do not send commercial email that uses a third party's domain without permission, misrepresents its origin or transmission path, or has a false or misleading subject line.Minn. Stat. 325F.694, subd. 2
- Provide a toll-free number, return email address, or other electronic method for recipients to opt out, and state it in the message.Minn. Stat. 325F.694, subd. 4 · Only if: Likely preempted by the federal CAN-SPAM Act, 15 U.S.C. 7707(b)
Sources
- Official text
- Minn. Stat. 325F.694 (Office of the Revisor of Statutes), including the note on the March 1, 2003 effective date and federal-preemption expiration clause
- Laws 2002, ch. 395, art. 2 (effective March 1, 2003)
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: Whether the section's self-expiration clause (Laws 2002, ch. 395, art. 2, s. 2) was triggered by CAN-SPAM is a legal question not resolved here; the revisor still publishes the section as current law. The CAN-SPAM preemption conclusion is analysis, not verified against a Minnesota ruling.
Research reference, not legal advice.