# POL-181 — The terms must describe every opt-in method actually used

> The SMS terms must describe every way people join the programme, consistently with the registered message flow.

- **Rule ID:** POL-181
- **Layer:** Policy pages (`POLICY_PAGE`)
- **Checks:** `SMS terms body vs campaign.message_flow`
- **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 privacy policy or SMS terms
- **Required by:** Twilio, CTIA, Vonage
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/policy-page/pol-181/

## Why this rule exists

Vonage asks for all of them rather than the primary one, because a subscriber who joined at a counter and reads terms describing only a web form cannot tell whether the document applies to them. Programmes accumulate entry points over time — a keyword added for an event, a tick box added at checkout — and the terms are written once.

## How to fix it

List every entry point in the terms — the checkout box, the keyword, the paper form, the phone call — and keep the list the same as the message flow. Done when the two documents name the same set.

## Example of a compliant value

```text
You can join Acme Coffee Rewards by ticking the box at checkout on acmecoffee.com, or by texting JOIN to 55512.
```

## Provider rejection codes

| Provider | Code | Resubmission allowed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Twilio (gen2) | `30909` | yes |

## Notes

Three rules read the same fact from three sources and can disagree independently: POL-091 asks the privacy policy, this one asks the terms against the declared flow, and POL-232 asks the terms against the surfaces found by crawling the site.