‘How’s this joker got my details?’: BrewDog founder faces complaints over emails to ‘equity punks’
UK data privacy regulators have received complaints against BrewDog founder James Watt after he contacted tens of thousands of former crowdfunding investors by email to pitch a buyback bid for the company. The complaints center on how Watt obtained and used the personal contact details of those investors after BrewDog's sale to Tilray left their shares worthless.
Why this matters: Over 200,000 people invested in BrewDog and then watched their shares become worthless when the company sold for £33 million. Getting an unsolicited email from the founder after all that is already a hard sell. But the data question matters independently: where did Watt get those contact details, and on what legal basis did he use them? Personal data collected for one purpose cannot simply be repurposed for someone's next venture. If the ICO finds a violation here, it would be a reminder that losing your money and losing control of your data are two separate harms.
Who should care: General readers · Privacy officers · Policy
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