# OPS-180 — Approved samples do not license prohibited content

> Prohibited content must not appear in live traffic regardless of what the approved samples showed.

- **Rule ID:** OPS-180
- **Layer:** Operational (`OPERATIONAL`)
- **Checks:** `live message content`
- **Severity:** BLOCKING — Breaking this rule gets the submission rejected outright.
- **When it bites:** Falls due after approval, once you are live and sending
- **How it is detected:** Not knowable before submission — reported with its deadline
- **Fix type:** Hard stop — not remediable, resubmission will not help
- **Required by:** T-Mobile, AT&T, CTIA, TCR
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/operational/ops-180/

## Why this rule exists

Approval is granted against the samples, and operators read it as approval of the campaign — so a programme whose samples were clean starts sending content the category prohibits, on the basis that the campaign was approved. Carriers scan live traffic, and a violation there is enforced against the account rather than the campaign.

## How to fix it

Apply the prohibited-content rules to every template before it goes live, not only to the ones submitted for registration. Treat the registered samples as examples of a standard rather than as the extent of it.

## Check this yourself

**Is there a review step that applies the prohibited-content rules to new templates, not just to the ones submitted for registration?**

1. Find the step. Approval was granted against the samples, and operators read it as approval of the campaign.
2. Apply the MESSAGE_CONTENT prohibited-content categories to every template before it goes live.
3. Treat the registered samples as examples of a standard rather than as the extent of it.

*What wrong looks like:* A programme whose samples were clean starts sending content the category prohibits, on the basis that the campaign was approved. Carriers scan live traffic and enforce against the account rather than the campaign.

## Notes

Live content we never see. What the user has to put in place is a review step on new templates — the MESSAGE_CONTENT prohibited-content family states the categories, and this rule is the reminder that approval did not exempt anything from them.