{
  "id": "BRD-045",
  "slug": "brd-045",
  "title": "PUBLIC_PROFIT means the shares actually trade",
  "statement": "The PUBLIC_PROFIT classification is available only to a company whose shares are genuinely publicly traded.",
  "rationale": "Public companies start at the top carrier trust class and get the throughput that comes with it, so the claim is checked against an exchange listing rather than taken from the form. The mistake is usually a large private company reading \"public\" as \"well known\", and the result is not a downgrade — it is a failed identity verification, because the ticker matched nothing.",
  "layer": "BRAND",
  "layerSlug": "brand",
  "object": "brand.entity_type",
  "severity": "BLOCKING",
  "detectability": [
    "EXTERNAL_DATA"
  ],
  "failureClass": "TERMINAL_EXTERNAL",
  "authorities": [
    "Twilio",
    "TCR"
  ],
  "codes": [
    {
      "provider": "Twilio",
      "code": "30796",
      "remediable": true
    }
  ],
  "applicability": {
    "entityTypes": [
      "PUBLIC_PROFIT"
    ]
  },
  "applicabilityText": "Applies when the brand is a public company.",
  "universal": false,
  "remediation": "Register as PRIVATE_PROFIT unless the company has a ticker on a recognised exchange. A private company with high volume gets there through external vetting instead, which raises throughput on evidence rather than on classification.",
  "notes": "The listing is checked against exchange data we do not hold. What the user has to confirm themselves is that the company files with the SEC and its shares trade under the symbol being submitted — a company that was public and has since been taken private is the case that catches people, because the ticker is still remembered.",
  "phase": "approval",
  "automated": false,
  "attestation": {
    "question": "Do this company's shares trade today, under the symbol on this brand, on a recognised exchange?",
    "howToCheck": [
      "Look the ticker up and confirm it returns this company — not a similarly named one, and not a listing that has since been withdrawn.",
      "Confirm the company still files with the SEC. A company taken private keeps its remembered ticker and loses the classification."
    ],
    "failureLooksLike": "A large, well-known private company reads \"public\" as \"well known\". The result is not a downgrade to private — it is a failed identity verification, because the ticker matched nothing."
  },
  "url": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-045/",
  "markdown": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-045.md",
  "registry": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/",
  "updated": "2026-07-25",
  "licence": "CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}