Fait Divers - The Origin of "Spam"

Spam, basically, is the overload in messages, mass sent and not asked for.

• They are not per se commercial in nature. Not-for-profit organisations, e.g. political parties, religious activist groups, etc, can just as easily engage in sending spam.
• They are also not per se unwanted or without added value. It is very likely that in the millions of recipients, some people are interested in the content.

The term "spam" is said to originate in a scene from the Monty Python's Flying Circus TV series (season 2, episode 12 of 15 December 1970)

Being a meme it was used then on early "social media" like bulletin boards and chat rooms to interrupt the conversation with quotes from the scene, and later any kind of meaningless message. And that is how it entered the realm of ICT.