# OPS-073 — Toll-free keyword behaviour cannot be customised, so do not promise it

> A toll-free programme must not tell consumers that STOP, UNSTOP or START will behave in any way other than the fixed carrier behaviour.

- **Rule ID:** OPS-073
- **Layer:** Operational (`OPERATIONAL`)
- **Checks:** `campaign.message_flow + campaign.sample[] + auto-replies`
- **Severity:** HIGH — Rejected by at least one carrier or provider, and a common cause of failure at the rest.
- **When it bites:** Gates approval — get this wrong and registration is refused
- **How it is detected:** AI judgement over the submitted form
- **Fix type:** Fix the field — a better value in the form clears it
- **Required by:** AWS, CTIA
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/operational/ops-073/

## Why this rule exists

On toll-free numbers the mandatory keywords are handled by the carrier before the message ever reaches the sender, and the behaviour cannot be changed or intercepted. Copy promising something else — "reply STOP PROMOS to leave only marketing", "text UNSTOP to resume your alerts" — describes a programme that cannot exist, so the consumer's reply does something different from what they were told and the brand looks like it ignored them.

## How to fix it

Describe only the standard behaviour: STOP stops everything on that number, START resumes it, HELP returns support information. Move any per-category preference to a link or a preference centre rather than a keyword. Done when no copy promises a keyword outcome the carrier does not implement.

## Example of a compliant value

```text
Reply STOP to unsubscribe. To choose which Acme Coffee messages you get, visit acmecoffee.com/preferences.
```

## Notes

Applies to the toll-free path only; on 10DLC long codes the keyword handler is the sender's own and custom keywords are legitimate. The applicability model has no dimension for the submission path, so the condition is carried in the criteria — the judge is told to PASS immediately unless the submission is toll-free.