Messaging Acceptable Use Policy

Carriers actively police what gets sent over SMS/MMS, and violations can get your number — or your whole account — suspended, sometimes with financial penalties passed through by the carrier. Here's what's off-limits and what's required on everything else.

Content that's never allowed

• High-risk financial products — payday loans, short-term high-interest loans, third-party auto loans
• Third-party lead generation or trading in consumer data
• Third-party debt collection, debt forgiveness, or credit repair services
• "Get rich quick" schemes — work-from-home programs, pyramid/MLM structures
• Illegal substances, including cannabis/CBD promotion and unauthorized prescription drug sales
• Gambling or casino promotion
• Content in the S.H.A.F.T. categories: sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, and tobacco (alcohol and tobacco have narrow, age-gated exceptions on certain approved channels — not the default)

Violations can trigger immediate suspension, and some carriers levy direct fines per violation on top of that. If your business involves any of the above, use email or another channel instead — don't try to work around the restriction with vague wording, since carrier filters and manual review both catch that.

Practices that count as evasion (also prohibited)

• Deliberately misspelling words to dodge content filters
• Using non-standard opt-out phrasing designed to look compliant without actually working
• "Snowshoeing" — sending the same message from many different numbers to spread volume and avoid detection

What's required on every message

• Consent — every recipient must have explicitly opted in. Purchased or third-party lists don't count as consent, no matter the source.
• Sender identification — your first message to a new contact must clearly identify your business.
• Opt-out language — recipients need a clear way to unsubscribe, typically "Reply STOP to unsubscribe." Once someone replies with a standard opt-out keyword, that revokes consent permanently — don't message them again unless they explicitly opt back in.

See SMS Compliance Settings to have sender ID and opt-out language added automatically.

Region-specific registration requirements

• US, Canada, and Puerto Rico — domestic-to-domestic messages generally require A2P registration on the sending number.
• US/Canada numbers texting internationally — A2P registration isn't required, but identity verification (KYC) is. Unverified sends are blocked.
• US numbers texting the UK — not permitted at all; see International SMS Compliance for the UK's own requirements.

If a message you'd expect to send is failing, checking whether the route (domestic vs. international, destination country) has the right registration type is usually the fastest way to find the cause.