A2P 10DLC rule registry
Reviewers read the samples as evidence of the programme, not as filler. These rules cover sender identification, opt-out language, the SHAFT categories, URL and shortener treatment, MMS media, and the auto-replies that answer HELP and STOP.
The opt-in confirmation must be at least 20 and at most 255 characters.
The HELP response must be at least 20 and at most 255 characters.
The STOP confirmation must be at least 20 and at most 255 characters.
A campaign that requests MMS capability must supply at least one sample media file alongside the sample message text.
Every attached MMS sample file must be at most 500 KB for GIF, JPEG and PNG images, and at most 600 KB for any other media type.
Sample messages must be written in English, or an English translation supplied alongside.
Sample messages and the campaign description must describe real messages sent to real subscribers, not test traffic, demonstrations, or machine-to-machine signalling.
The message body must identify the entity on whose behalf it is sent, and where relevant give a contact route.
Sample messages must not impersonate or misrepresent another business, bank, government agency, or technology company.
Sample messages must describe a business consistent with what the brand website shows.
STOP, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE and QUIT must all be supported, both in the keyword configuration and honoured in practice.
Where the sending route cannot receive inbound texts, every message must clearly disclose that replies are not monitored.
Every recurring message programme must send a confirmation message when a consumer opts in.
The opt-in confirmation message must contain the registered brand name or DBA, matching the brand record.
The confirmation must name the programme or describe the product, so the consumer knows which subscription they joined.
The confirmation must state how often messages will arrive.
The confirmation must state that message and data rates may apply.
The confirmation must tell the consumer how to get help or give a support contact.
The confirmation must include STOP instructions echoing a keyword the programme honours.
The HELP reply must contain the registered brand or programme name.
The HELP reply must contain at least one support contact — a phone number, an email address, or a support URL.
The literal keyword HELP must appear in the configured help keyword set.
The opt-out confirmation must contain the registered brand or programme name.
The confirmation must acknowledge that the opt-out request was received and acted on.
The confirmation must state explicitly that the consumer will receive no further messages.
No public URL shortener may appear in the description, message flow, samples, HELP reply, or either confirmation message.
Embedded links must not be designed to mislead the recipient or deliver harm.
The landing page reached from a link in a sample message must be free of prohibited content, and is screened whether or not it is on the registered brand domain.
The offer described in a sample message must be the offer a recipient finds on the page the message links to.
Domains appearing in message content must not be flagged by threat-intelligence sources.
When embeddedLink is true, at least one sample message must actually contain a URL.
Where sample or description content covers alcohol, firearms, or tobacco, the age-gated attribute must be set true.
Campaign content must not promote unsolicited bulk messaging, whatever the content of it is.
The campaign description must describe the messages the samples actually show.
Where consent is collected on paper, at a point of sale, by QR code or by keyword, the samples must match the programme the printed call to action described.
A campaign declared transactional or informational must have no coupon, offer, upsell, or promotional content in its samples.
Where samples contain sweepstakes or contest content, the sweepstakes use case must be declared.
The SHAFT screen — sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, tobacco and profanity — must be applied to every sample message and to the campaign description and message flow, and a single hit anywhere fails the whole campaign.
Content presented as suitable for a family audience must not carry adult themes, and must not depict children or characters aimed at children in a sexualised or otherwise unsuitable way.
Campaign content must not promote underage, non-consensual or otherwise illegal sexual themes, simulated or real.
Campaign content must not promote violence, threats or physical harm.
Message content must not be designed to harass, bully or intimidate the person receiving it, and must not threaten them.
Message content must not invade privacy, create a safety risk, or be unlawful, abusive, malicious, misleading, excessively violent, obscene or defamatory.
Message content must not depict, promote or be designed to facilitate the abuse of alcohol, drugs, tobacco or other controlled substances, including where the abuse is implied rather than stated.
Alcohol brands, and drinks designed to resemble alcoholic ones, must not be marketed in a way that appeals to or targets people under 21.
Campaign content must not promote explosives, fireworks or pyrotechnics.
Campaign content must not promote weapons that are not lawful in every US state.
Campaign content must not promote kratom, drug paraphernalia and smoking accessories.
Campaign content must not promote sweepstakes, raffles, prize giveaways or contest entry.
A campaign registered under the CHARITY use case must not solicit lottery, sweepstakes or raffle entries, and must not enrol donors in recurring donations.
A campaign registered under the POLITICAL use case must not raise funds through lotteries, sweepstakes, raffles or any other game of chance.
Campaign content must not promote student-loan refinancing, consolidation or forgiveness programmes.
Sample messages must not ask the recipient to supply information used to qualify, price or route a loan application.
Debt consolidation, debt reduction and credit repair content is refused whether or not the sender collected the consent itself.
Campaign content must not promote forex, binary options, contracts for difference and other speculative derivatives.
Campaign content must not promote schemes promising guaranteed, risk-free or unusually high financial returns.
Campaign content must not promote persistent relaying of one-time passcodes for other service providers.
Campaign content must not promote fake prizes, impersonated brands and advance-fee solicitations.
Messages must not manufacture urgency — neither a security pretext such as an account about to be suspended, nor a commercial countdown, scarcity or deadline that is not real.
Campaign content must not promote fraud or scam content — deception for financial or personal gain.
Campaign content must not promote simulated phishing and security-awareness test messaging.
Neither the landing page a message reaches nor any file it offers for download may present itself as belonging to a business other than the registered brand.
Neither the call to action nor subsequent messages may use deceptive language, or misdescribe what the programme sends, how often, or what it costs.
Campaign content must not promote the buying, selling or sharing of consumer information as a business model.
Every abandoned-cart reminder must tell the recipient how to stop receiving them.
A cart reminder must not collect payment information, accept purchase approval by keyword reply, or otherwise complete the transaction — the recipient must finish the purchase through a direct URL.
A message sent because another consumer referred or forwarded it must identify the person who sent it and state why the recipient is receiving it.
A message-originated political contribution must be answered with a message confirming the contributor's intent to give and carrying the eligibility certification — at least 18, own funds, not a foreign national, not a federal contractor.
A political campaign cannot be registered through an ISV whose own terms prohibit political message content, whatever the carriers allow.
Samples must carry the brand name and opt-out instructions even when consent was collected verbally rather than on a web form.
Where the campaign is registered through an ISV that publishes its own sample specification, the samples must satisfy it — for HubSpot, exactly two samples, each carrying the business name, opt-out instructions including STOP, a privacy-policy link, and bracketed personalisation.
Campaign content must not promote adult dating, companionship, or hookup services.
Campaign content must not promote bail bonds and related legal-financial solicitation.
Campaign content must not promote cannabis, CBD, hemp, or related products.
Campaign content must not promote charitable donation solicitation outside the charity use case.
Campaign content must not promote cryptocurrency, stock alerts, or high-risk investment offers.
Campaign content must not promote third-party debt collection, debt relief, or credit repair services.
Messages must not misrepresent the sender, imitate another brand, or make claims the business cannot support.
The description must state who receives the messages, what those messages contain, and how recipients consented.
Campaign content must not promote firearms accessories, ammunition, or related product marketing.
Campaign content must not promote gambling, casino, sportsbook, or lottery content.
Campaign content must not promote payday loans, short-term lending, or high-interest credit offers.
Campaign content must not promote illegal goods, services, or activity.
Campaign content must not promote third-party job alerts or staffing lead generation.
Campaign content must not promote third-party lead generation, affiliate marketing, or MLM recruitment.
Campaign content must not promote prescription drugs, controlled substances, or unapproved health products.
Messages must not ask recipients for passwords, full card numbers, SSNs, or account credentials.
Campaign content must not promote real-estate wholesaling and unsolicited property-acquisition outreach.
The sample set must include actual campaign messages, not exclusively confirmations, HELP replies, or opt-out acknowledgements.
Sample messages must demonstrate that recipients are told how to stop receiving messages.
Samples must be actual messages the campaign will send, with real brand and content specifics.
The content of the samples must be consistent with the campaign use case selected.
Campaign content must not promote unsolicited SEO, web design, or marketing agency solicitation.
Campaign content must not promote alcohol sales or promotion.
Campaign content must not promote firearms, ammunition, or weapon parts.
Campaign content must not promote hate speech or content attacking a protected group.
Campaign content must not promote sexually explicit or adult content.
Campaign content must not promote tobacco, vaping, or nicotine products.
Campaign content must not promote prize, winner, or sweepstakes claims not backed by a real promotion.
Campaign content must not promote telehealth acquisition marketing and unproven supplement claims.
Campaign content must not promote timeshare, vacation club, or holiday-ownership solicitation.
URLs in messages must point at the brand’s own domain or a dedicated branded short domain, and must identify the owner.
The attached MMS sample media must show the artwork the campaign will actually send, not a placeholder graphic or an unlicensed stock image standing in for it.
Opt-out instructions in message bodies must use a widely accepted keyword, not an invented alternative.
The confirmation must precede any other messaging to a newly opted-in consumer.
Where a short domain is used, it must be dedicated to the exclusive use of the message sender.
A URL in message content must not chain through multiple redirects that hide the eventual destination.
A landing page linked from a message must unambiguously identify the site owner as a person or registered business, with contact information.
When embeddedPhone is true, at least one sample must contain a phone number.
Every declared campaign attribute must be consistent with what the sample messages actually contain.
Sample content must be consistent with how consent was collected, not only with the use case.
Campaign content must not promote debt collection presented as third-party activity.
The description, message flow, and sample messages must each contain distinct content rather than repeated boilerplate.
Each sample must illustrate a genuinely different message the campaign will send, not a near-duplicate of another sample.
No sample message may be long enough to render as 10 or more SMS segments.
Curly-brace and mustache tokens such as {order_id} or {{name}} must not appear in sample messages.
Where a sample does not carry the brand name, the brand's registered domain appearing in the message can satisfy sender identification.
The support email given in the HELP response must be on the registered brand domain.
The embeddedPhone attribute should be set when a sample contains a phone number other than the support number given in the HELP reply.
Messages must avoid all-caps shouting, excessive punctuation, and obfuscated wording used to evade filters.
Personalisation placeholders in samples should use [square brackets] rather than code syntax.
Characters outside the GSM-7 alphabet — smart quotes, ™, ®, em dashes, emoji — cut the per-segment limit from 160 to 70.
Ekas runs every rule that gates approval, 823 of these 915, against your registration before it reaches the carrier. It reads your site, your policy pages and your opt-in the way a reviewer would, and hands you the fix, not just the verdict.