{
  "id": "OPS-130",
  "slug": "ops-130",
  "title": "Tax-exempt status is not a political vet",
  "statement": "Uncapped political throughput requires a valid political vetting artefact; 501(c) tax-exempt status alone yields only standard terms.",
  "rationale": "Both facts sit on the brand record and one of them looks like the other, so a non-profit running a political programme reasonably expects its tax status to carry the throughput. It does not: the carriers want independent verification that the sender is who they claim, and a tax exemption verifies something else entirely.",
  "layer": "OPERATIONAL",
  "layerSlug": "operational",
  "object": "political vetting artefact against throughput terms",
  "severity": "MEDIUM",
  "detectability": [
    "EXTERNAL_DATA"
  ],
  "failureClass": "TERMINAL_EXTERNAL",
  "authorities": [
    "T-Mobile",
    "TCR"
  ],
  "applicability": {
    "useCases": [
      "POLITICAL"
    ]
  },
  "applicabilityText": "Applies when the use case is POLITICAL.",
  "universal": false,
  "remediation": "Obtain a political vet — Campaign Verify or an equivalent both carriers accept — and import it, if the programme needs uncapped throughput. Done when the throughput you planned against is backed by the artefact that grants it.",
  "notes": "Throughput terms granted by the carriers. What the user has to do is check which artefact their brand actually holds before planning volume; XBC-003 refuses a political campaign with no vetting at all, which is the approval-side question rather than this one.",
  "phase": "post",
  "automated": false,
  "attestation": {
    "question": "Which artefact does the brand actually hold — a political vet, or 501(c) tax-exempt status?",
    "howToCheck": [
      "Read the brand record. Both facts sit there and one looks like the other.",
      "Only a political vet — Campaign Verify or an equivalent both carriers accept — grants uncapped political throughput.",
      "Obtain and import one if the programme needs that volume."
    ],
    "failureLooksLike": "A non-profit running a political programme expects its tax status to carry the throughput. The carriers want independent verification that the sender is who they claim, and a tax exemption verifies something else entirely."
  },
  "url": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/operational/ops-130/",
  "markdown": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/operational/ops-130.md",
  "registry": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/",
  "updated": "2026-07-25",
  "licence": "CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}