# Is cold outreach legal under GDPR and CAN-SPAM?
> Cold B2B contact can be lawful, with different rules by channel and country. This is not legal advice. GDPR cares about how you process personal data. CAN-SPAM cares about commercial email.
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Talk to counsel for your facts. The rest of this page is a map of what people mix up, not a permission slip.

CAN-SPAM (US) is built for commercial email: truthful headers, honest subject lines, a physical postal address, and a working opt-out you honor quickly. It is generally treated as not covering a LinkedIn DM, because a LinkedIn message is not mail to an email address. If your sequence hops to email, that email step is in CAN-SPAM's world.

GDPR (EU/EEA, and extra-territorial in practice) applies when you process personal data: a name, a title, an employer, a profile URL sitting in your tool. B2B cold contact often relies on legitimate interest, not prior consent, and that still needs a documented assessment, data minimization, transparency, and a real way to object. Scraping a giant EU list into a sequencer without a story is the version that goes badly.

Canada's CASL is stricter than CAN-SPAM and leans toward consent for commercial electronic messages. If you sell into Canada, do not assume a US email playbook is enough.

Platform rules sit on top of all of this. A campaign can be fine under CAN-SPAM and still get a LinkedIn restriction. Honor opt-outs on every channel you used. Do not buy mystery lists. Keep a record of where a contact came from. That is the unglamorous half of outbound that keeps you in business.

## Related

- [Is LinkedIn automation allowed?](https://omentir.com/help/is-linkedin-automation-allowed.md)
- [Why are my cold emails going to spam?](https://omentir.com/help/why-are-my-cold-emails-going-to-spam.md)
- [Can I send LinkedIn connection requests to people I do not know?](https://omentir.com/help/can-i-send-linkedin-requests-to-people-i-dont-know.md)

## Frequently asked questions

**Do I need consent before a LinkedIn DM?**

GDPR does not always require consent for relevant B2B contact if legitimate interest holds and they can object. LinkedIn's own rules still apply. When someone asks you to stop, stop.

**Is a purchased email list legal?**

Sometimes, if the source is lawful and you can still meet GDPR, CAN-SPAM, or CASL. In practice, purchased lists are how bounce rates and complaints spike. Prefer lists you can explain.

**Does an unsubscribe link belong in a LinkedIn message?**

A simple "happy to close the loop if this is not useful" is human. A legal footer in a DM looks like email. On email, include a real unsubscribe. On LinkedIn, honor "please stop" without arguing.

**Can Omentir make my outreach compliant?**

No product can. We can pace sends and keep replies in one place. You still own targeting, data sources, and how you respond when someone objects. Read our [privacy policy](/privacy-policy) and [terms](/terms-of-service).

[Create an Omentir account](https://omentir.com/signup). Pro is $49/month.