The maximum civil penalty for a CAN-SPAM violation will stay at $53,088 per email for the rest of 2026. The Federal Trade Commission confirmed in the Federal Register on 15 September that its civil penalty amounts will not change this year and that it will keep applying the 2025 levels.
Federal law requires agencies to raise civil penalties each January in line with inflation. The adjustment compares the Consumer Price Index for October with the October before. Last autumn’s government shutdown meant the Bureau of Labor Statistics never produced the October 2025 figure. On 17 April the Office of Management and Budget issued memo M-26-11 cancelling the 2026 adjustment for every agency, and the FTC has now formally followed suit.
The current amounts sit in 16 CFR 1.98, unchanged since January 2025. CAN-SPAM violations are enforced as breaches of the FTC Act, so the $53,088 cap applies to each non-compliant email. Across a single campaign, that ceiling is theoretical in practice, but it is the number regulators start from.
The freeze is a pause. The inflation adjustment returns next year, and without new legislation the 2027 figure should cover two years of price rises at once.
For comparison, Washington’s amended Commercial Electronic Mail Act cut statutory damages from $500 to $100 per email for cases filed from 11 June. A single federal penalty is still worth more than 500 of them.
