The decline path must be as usable as the accept path
The requirementstatement
The control that lets a consumer skip or decline messaging must not be disabled, greyed out, or hidden.
- Severityseverity
- HighHIGHRejected by at least one carrier or provider, and a common cause of failure at the rest.
- When it bitesphase
- Gates approvalapprovalGet this wrong and the brand or campaign is refused at registration.
- What is checkedobject
- decline/skip control rendering
- Where it liveslayer
- Consent flowCONSENT_FLOW
- How Ekas settles itdetectability
- AI · visionVISION
- Needs the pixels: a screenshot of the opt-in surface, a scanned paper form, an MMS attachment.
- What the fix involvesfailureClass
- Fix the websiteTERMINAL_WEBSITE
- The fix lives on your site. No amount of rewording the form clears it.
- Who requires itauthorities
- TwilioFCC
- When it appliesapplicabilityText
- Applies when consent was NOT collected by live verbal, IVR, text-to-join keyword, QR code and imported list.
Why this rule existsrationale
A greyed-out "No thanks" is a refusal the interface has already made for the consumer, and it produces opt-ins that look voluntary in the data and were not. Design teams reach for the muted style to steer people toward the primary action without realising that here the primary action is a legal consent, where steering is the violation.
How to fix itremediation
Render the decline control enabled, at a legible contrast, and in the same visual weight class as the accept control. Keep it in the same place on the screen — a "No thanks" moved below the fold is hidden even when it is styled correctly.
Common mistakespitfalls
- Making the decline control a plain text link beside a large button is the usual compromise, and it is normally accepted; making it grey-on-grey or 10px is not.
Provider rejection codescodes
The code you get back when this rule is what failed, and whether that provider lets you resubmit.
| Provider | Code | Resubmit |
|---|---|---|
| Twiliogen2 | 30931 | Yes |
Notesnotes
Excluded from the methods where declining means simply not acting — a caller who says no, a consumer who never texts the keyword, a code nobody scans. There is no rendered control to grey out, so the rule would be asking a question the registration cannot answer. The catalog states the same carve-out as CON-069's method list.
Rules you will hit next
Other consent flow rules at the same severity. A registration is judged as a whole, not rule by rule.
CON-017An offline opt-in still needs a findable business behind itHighHIGHCON-033Opt-in evidence must be the live surface, not a mockup of itHighHIGHCON-038Verbally-collected informational campaigns need the mockup and the messagesHighHIGHCON-042The phone field must be optional on a general-purpose formHighHIGHCON-044A required phone field must carry an SMS disclaimer beside itHighHIGHCON-064A kiosk or terminal must not pre-fill the consumer's numberHighHIGH
CON-071 is one of 101 consent flow rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.