Promotional messaging needs consent in writing, and must say so
The requirementstatement
A campaign carrying promotional content must rest on prior express written consent, and the submission must describe that consent as a written record.
- Severityseverity
- BlockingBLOCKINGBreaking this rule gets the submission rejected. There is no partial credit.
- When it bitesphase
- Gates approvalapprovalGet this wrong and the brand or campaign is refused at registration.
- What is checkedobject
- consent basis; consent artifact
- Where it liveslayer
- Consent flowCONSENT_FLOW
- How Ekas settles itdetectability
- AI · formAI_FORM
- A semantic question about what you wrote: whether a description matches a use case, whether a name looks like a filed entity. Judged by a model against written criteria.
- What the fix involvesfailureClass
- Supply evidenceTERMINAL_EVIDENCE
- Needs proof only you hold: a screenshot, a recording, a scan of the form people signed.
- Who requires itauthorities
- FCCCTIAAWSBandwidthTwilio
- When it appliesapplicabilityText
- Applies when the use case is MARKETING, MIXED, SWEEPSTAKE and LOW_VOLUME.
Why this rule existsrationale
Marketing by automated text is the case the TCPA requires a writing for, and a writing is what the brand will have to produce if the consent is ever challenged. The reason to check it at registration is that the alternative is discovering years of sends rested on a verbal yes nobody wrote down — at which point every message already delivered is exposed.
How to fix itremediation
Describe the written record: a ticked box with a stored timestamp, a signed form, a captured e-signature. Say where it is retained and what it contains. Where the consent was spoken, move the marketing programme onto a written opt-in before registering it and keep the verbal consent for the informational messages it can carry.
A compliant exampleexample
Marketing consent is captured in writing at checkout: the ticked box, the disclosure version shown, the timestamp and the session id are stored against the order and retained for four years.
Common mistakespitfalls
- An electronic record only counts as the writing once the E-SIGN predicate is met — the consumer must have received the E-SIGN disclosures and agreed electronically, which most checkout flows have never done.
Notesnotes
Oral consent remains adequate for purely informational or transactional programmes, which is why this is tagged to the promotional use cases rather than left universal.
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-008The live CTA and the declared message flow must say the same thingBlockingBLOCKINGCON-010The three subscriber-management attributes must be declared trueBlockingBLOCKINGCON-013Subscriber attributes must agree with the message bodies suppliedBlockingBLOCKINGCON-023Evidence URLs must resolve without a loginBlockingBLOCKINGCON-024The opt-in URL must serve a certificate that verifiesBlockingBLOCKINGCON-027The opt-in URL must land on a page that carries the opt-inBlockingBLOCKING
CON-151 is one of 101 consent flow rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.