# MSG-163 — Family-friendly styling must not carry adult themes

> 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.

- **Rule ID:** MSG-163
- **Layer:** Message content (`MESSAGE_CONTENT`)
- **Checks:** `campaign.description + campaign.sample[]`
- **Severity:** BLOCKING — Breaking this rule gets the submission rejected outright.
- **When it bites:** Gates approval — get this wrong and registration is refused
- **How it is detected:** AI judgement over the submitted form
- **Fix type:** Hard stop — not remediable, resubmission will not help
- **Required by:** Telnyx, Bird, T-Mobile
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/message-content/msg-163/

## Why this rule exists

The harm is that nothing on the surface warns anyone: the message reads as a cartoon promotion, so it is forwarded, shown to a child, and only then understood. Telnyx and Bird both name this shape specifically because keyword screening is blind to it — every word in the message is clean, and the adult content lives in what the styling is pointing at. The honest version is a mascot or cartoon identity attached to an adult product, adopted because it tested well and without anyone thinking about who else receives the text.

## How to fix it

Drop the child-facing styling, the mascot and the cartoon voice, and describe the product to adults in adult terms. If the product itself is adult, note that restyling only settles this rule — the underlying content is still judged by the adult-content prohibition, which has no path on 10DLC.

## Provider rejection codes

| Provider | Code | Resubmission allowed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Telnyx | `703` | no |
| Bird | `703` | no |