# MSG-255 — No impersonating a third-party brand on the landing page or in a linked file

> 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.

- **Rule ID:** MSG-255
- **Layer:** Message content (`MESSAGE_CONTENT`)
- **Checks:** `campaign.sample[] -> landing page + linked download`
- **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 crawled website or policy page
- **Fix type:** Fix the website — no form edit clears it
- **Required by:** CTIA
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/message-content/msg-255/

## Why this rule exists

Impersonation moved to the landing page precisely because message text is screened and pages historically were not: the text says "your delivery", the page wears a courier's livery, and the recipient hands over card details to something they believe is the courier. CTIA extends the prohibition to linked downloads for the same reason — a PDF invoice on somebody else's letterhead does the same work as a cloned page. Legitimate senders hit this through reseller and white-label arrangements where the page genuinely carries a partner's branding and nobody thought of it as impersonation.

## How to fix it

Make the destination page identify the registered brand above the fold — name, logo and contact route — and remove any third-party branding you are not authorised to display. Where you act for a named principal, say so on the page in the form "X, an authorised agent of Y" rather than presenting as Y. Done when the page names the sender before it names anyone else.

## Common mistakes

- A footer disclaimer does not settle it: reviewers judge what the page presents itself as on arrival, and a logo at the top outweighs a line of small print at the bottom.