In a judgment dated November 22, 2025, Ref. 23 C 120/25, the Düsseldorf Local Court clarified that an (indirect) contact on LinkedIn cannot justify the unsolicited sending of promotional emails.
In the proceedings, an IT service provider had sent two promotional emails to the business email address of another company. No prior consent was obtained. The sender argued that he had been at least indirectly connected with the company’s managing director via the LinkedIn network and therefore could have assumed consent to contact.
The court did not follow this argumentation. It clarified that unsolicited promotional emails interfere with the right to protect business operations and processes from disruption, and are therefore generally inadmissible if no effective consent is present.
The decisive factor is the protection of business operations from unwanted demands. Merely sifting through and sorting out individual promotional emails ties up resources and constitutes a relevant impairment. It was undisputed that no explicit consent from the recipient was available. The court further emphasized that neither presumed nor implied consent is sufficient. An exception for advertising to existing customers under the UWG (Act Against Unfair Competition) also does not apply here, as the email address would have had to be collected in connection with a sale of goods or services.
Therefore, an (indirect) connection on LinkedIn does not change the classification as an unreasonable impairment, especially since the advertising was not conducted via the social network itself, but via another communication channel.
Organizations should carefully check whether effective consent or a legal exception exists when using email marketing. Contact via platforms such as LinkedIn or other professional networks is not sufficient for this purpose.
Even though this judgment is not a supreme court decision, it is advisable to review existing processes and communication strategies and assess whether risks of warnings and legal disputes exist. We would be pleased to support you in the legally compliant design of your marketing activities.
April 14, 2026
