Object to direct marketing
Last checked: 12 Oct 2026
UK data protection law lets you object to an organisation using your personal data. For direct marketing, the regulator (the Information Commission, still the ICO on its website) says organisations cannot refuse. That makes it the simplest way to get off a marketing list.
How to object
- Find the organisation's contact for data requests, usually in its privacy notice (sometimes a data protection officer's email address or a web form).
- Say you object to the use of your personal data for direct marketing, including any profiling for marketing. Give enough detail for them to find you, such as your name and address. You can object verbally or in writing; the regulator recommends writing, so you have a record.
- Use the regulator's template letter if it helps: it's on the right to object page. There's no required wording.
- Keep a copy and note the date you sent it.
What happens next
- Timing: the organisation should respond within one calendar month. It can extend this by up to two more months for complex requests, if it tells you why.
- Suppression list: organisations can keep your name on a suppression list so they know not to market to you. That's expected, not a refusal.
- If they don't comply: see complaining about how your data is handled.
Objecting to other uses
You can also object to some other uses of your data, for example where an organisation relies on its "legitimate interests". Unlike direct marketing, the organisation can refuse those objections if it has strong reasons to carry on, or a legal or contractual need. You can't object where the data is needed for a contract with you, a legal requirement, or to save a life.
2026 change: the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 names direct marketing as an example of something that may be a legitimate interest for an organisation. The regulator's guidance, updated in July 2026 for the Act, still says you have the right to object to direct marketing and organisations can't refuse.
Sources
- Information Commission (ICO website): The right to object to the use of your information (updated 23 Jul 2026)
- Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, s.70 (legitimate interests)
- Credit Reference Agency Information Notice (CRAIN), on the right to object
This page describes your options and how organisations say they handle requests. It isn't legal advice. See About & sourcing to report a correction.