# MSG-171 — Messages must not harass, intimidate or threaten the recipient

> Message content must not be designed to harass, bully or intimidate the person receiving it, and must not threaten them.

- **Rule ID:** MSG-171
- **Layer:** Message content (`MESSAGE_CONTENT`)
- **Checks:** `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:** Twilio, CTIA, AT&T
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/message-content/msg-171/

## Why this rule exists

This is hostility pointed at the individual holding the phone rather than at a group, and it is the shape complaints arrive in most often — the recipient reports the message because it frightened them, not because it offended them. Honest businesses land here through pressure copy and enforcement language: escalating reminders, "final warning", "we will be forced to take action", each of which reads as a threat on a small screen with no context around it. AT&T states it plainly — message content that deceives or threatens consumers is not permitted — and there is no volume threshold below which it is tolerated.

## How to fix it

Rewrite the copy to state the position and the recipient's options neutrally, and delete anything that predicts a consequence in order to frighten rather than to inform. A message that says what is owed, by when, and how to resolve it carries the same information without the pressure — and if the programme genuinely depends on the pressure, it is not registrable.

## Common mistakes

- Softening the wording while keeping an escalating cadence does not settle this: repetition aimed at wearing the recipient down is itself the harassment, and the samples are read as a sequence.

## Provider rejection codes

| Provider | Code | Resubmission allowed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Twilio (gen2) | `30954` | no |