You entered a sweepstakes, and now the sponsor's newsletter shows up every few days. That isn't a glitch — for most giveaways, handing over your email is the price of entry, and the official rules quietly enroll you in the marketing list. The good news: US law doesn't leave you stuck there. A federal statute called CAN-SPAM gives every recipient a hard, enforceable right to make those emails stop. Here's how that right actually works. 📩

Every marketing email must carry a working opt-out

CAN-SPAM applies to commercial email, and it requires each message to include a clear, functioning unsubscribe mechanism — a link or a reply-to address a normal person can find and use. The sponsor can't bury it, can't make you log in to an account you never created, and can't force you to hand over anything beyond your email address and a few simple preferences to get off the list. A single-click "unsubscribe from all" must be available, even if the sender also offers a menu of granular choices.

Just as important is the deadline: once you opt out, the sender has 10 business days to stop emailing you. That's the number worth remembering. If newsletters keep landing on day 11 or beyond, the sponsor is out of compliance — this isn't a vague courtesy window, it's a statutory limit. The opt-out link also has to keep working for at least 30 days after the message was sent, so you're covered even if you get around to unsubscribing from an old email weeks later.

Use the unsubscribe link, not the spam button

When the flood starts, the instinct is to hit "report spam" and move on. That trains your inbox filter, but it doesn't create the legal record that protects you — and it doesn't trigger the sponsor's 10-day clock. Scroll to the footer and click the actual unsubscribe link. That's the action CAN-SPAM is built around, and it's the one that obligates the sender to act. Take a quick screenshot or note the date, so if the emails don't stop you know exactly when your window started.

Watch for two traps in the process. First, some sponsors route "unsubscribe" to a preference center that merely reduces frequency or unchecks one category — keep going until you see explicit confirmation you're off the marketing list entirely. Second, the retailer running the giveaway may not be the party actually sending mail; entry rules often disclose that your address is shared with co-sponsors or partners, each a separate sender you'll need to opt out of individually. Unsubscribing from the brand you recognized won't silence a partner you've never heard of.

When opting out doesn't work, escalate

If you unsubscribed and the emails outlast the 10-business-day window, the sender is violating federal law, and each noncompliant message can carry civil penalties of over $50,000 in FTC enforcement actions. You personally can't sue under CAN-SPAM, but you're not without leverage. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov — the agency that enforces the statute and the one sponsors genuinely don't want hearing from you.

Keep your evidence simple: the date you opted out and a couple of the emails that arrived afterward. That timeline is the whole case. Before you ever enter, it's also worth reading the entry form's fine print for a pre-checked "yes, email me" box you can uncheck up front, or a note that your data goes to third parties — stopping the list before it starts beats cleaning it up later.

Click the real unsubscribe link, mark the date, and give it 10 business days — then take it to the FTC if the emails don't stop.