Opt-out records must keep the words the consumer actually sent
The requirementstatement
Every opt-out transaction must be recorded with the raw inbound text, the channel it arrived on, and the normalisation that was applied to it.
- 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
- campaign.message_flow + privacy policy
- Where it liveslayer
- OperationalOPERATIONAL
- 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
- Fix the fieldRETRY_FIELD
- A better value in the form fixes it. Ekas can rewrite it and re-check.
- Who requires itauthorities
- CTIAFCC
- When it appliesapplicabilityText
- Applies to every 10DLC registration.
Why this rule existsrationale
The hard opt-out cases are never "STOP". They are "stop texting me", a reply on the wrong keyword, a revocation left on a voicemail — and whether each was honoured turns on what the handler did with the exact words. A record keeping only "opted out: true" cannot show that a borderline message was read correctly, and cannot show that a missed one was missed, which is the same as having no answer when a regulator asks how revocations are recognised.
How to fix itremediation
Store three things per revocation: the inbound text verbatim, the channel it arrived on (SMS, call, email, agent), and the keyword or intent it was matched to. Done when you can list last month's opt-outs and read what each consumer actually wrote.
A compliant exampleexample
Opt-out records store: received_at, channel=SMS, raw_text="please stop texting me", matched=STOP (natural-language), phone number.
Common mistakespitfalls
- Recording the normalised keyword only ("STOP") loses exactly the evidence the rule exists for — the raw text is what shows a variant was understood.
Notesnotes
Absorbs OPS-220, which names the channel field this record must carry. Registration-side twin: the handler behaviour itself is not observable before traffic, but whether the programme has decided to keep the evidence is.
Rules you will hit next
6 other rules read campaign.message_flow + privacy policy. Fixing one field to satisfy a single rule is how a resubmission trades one rejection for another, so read these before you change anything.
OPS-085The programme must scrub deactivated numbers before sendingBlockingBLOCKINGOPS-210Telemarketing consent must retain the request, its purpose and the answerBlockingBLOCKINGOPS-236An IVR opt-in must log the prompt, the keypress, the time and the callBlockingBLOCKINGOPS-261Only the charity may use the numbers a charity collectsBlockingBLOCKINGOPS-199Consent records must capture all seven required fieldsHighHIGHOPS-207The consent record must name the page the opt-in came fromHighHIGH
OPS-056 is one of 139 operational rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.