Electronic Mail (unsolicited bulk email law)
Iowa Anti-Spam Law
Marketing · Communications
Iowa's anti-spam law targets bulk commercial email senders who forge or falsify routing and header information, and people who sell software built to do so. It carries criminal penalties that rise with volume, lets injured email providers and recipients sue for statutory damages, and treats violations as consumer fraud enforceable by the Attorney General. Much of state spam regulation is preempted by the federal CAN-SPAM Act, except for falsity and deception rules like this one.
- Where
- Iowa
- Citation
- Iowa Code ch. 716A (716A.1 to 716A.7)
- Status
- In force
- Last amended
- 2019-07-01
- Enforced by
- Iowa Attorney General (as a Consumer Fraud Act violation under 714.16(2)(a)); county attorneys (criminal); injured persons (civil)
- People can sue
- Yes
- Penalties
- Aggravated misdemeanor, or class D felony above volume thresholds (10,000 recipients a day, 100,000 a month, or 1 million a year) or revenue thresholds (716A.2). Injured persons may recover damages, lost profits, fees and costs, or statutory damages of the lesser of $10 per message or $25,000 per day, or $1 per recipient (716A.6). Forfeiture of proceeds and equipment (716A.7).
- Applies to
- Any person who falsifies or forges email transmission or routing information in connection with unsolicited bulk email sent through or into an email service provider's network, or who distributes software designed to do so (716A.2)
Practices it requires
- Do not falsify or forge email transmission or routing information in connection with unsolicited bulk email.Iowa Code 716A.2(1)(a)
- Do not sell, give, or distribute software primarily designed or marketed to falsify email transmission or routing information.Iowa Code 716A.2(1)(b)
- Do not willfully use encryption to further a violation of the chapter.Iowa Code 716A.4
Sources
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: Original effective date of 2005 Acts ch. 123 not confirmed (likely July 1, 2005 under Iowa Code 3.7). Last amendment (2019 Acts ch. 140, s. 24, to 716A.2) was not reviewed; its date is inferred from the July 1 default. The CAN-SPAM preemption remark reflects 15 U.S.C. 7707(b) and was not re-verified in this session.
Research reference, not legal advice.