STOP and HELP instructions must be legible — bold is not required
The requirementstatement
The STOP and HELP instructions must be legible in the rendered terms; bold typeface is no longer required.
- Severityseverity
- LowLOWBest practice. Worth fixing, rarely fatal on its own.
- When it bitesphase
- Gates approvalapprovalGet this wrong and the brand or campaign is refused at registration.
- What is checkedobject
- SMS terms typography as rendered
- Where it liveslayer
- Policy pagesPOLICY_PAGE
- How Ekas settles itdetectability
- AI · visionVISION
- Needs the pixels: a screenshot of the opt-in surface, a scanned paper form, an MMS attachment.
- What the fix involvesfailureClass
- Fix the policyTERMINAL_POLICY
- The fix lives in your privacy policy or SMS terms. Ekas can generate the missing clauses.
- Who requires itauthorities
- CTIA
- When it appliesapplicabilityText
- Applies to every 10DLC registration.
Why this rule existsrationale
The bold requirement came from the legacy MMA guidelines and was withdrawn in CTIA SCMH v1.8, but it survives in circulated checklists — so brands are still being told to reformat documents and tools still flag compliant terms. What survives is the plain requirement underneath: a reader has to be able to find the instructions.
How to fix itremediation
Leave the formatting alone if the instructions are readable. Where they are set in small print or the same weight as a wall of text, give them their own line rather than bolding them. Done when a reader can find the STOP instruction at a glance.
A compliant exampleexample
A short paragraph of its own: "To stop receiving messages, reply STOP to any message from us."
Notesnotes
Recorded so a legacy checklist does not reintroduce the withdrawn requirement. SCMH v1.8 Appendix B footnote 20 states that opt-out information no longer needs to appear in bold typeface — never report a lack of bold as a defect.
Rules you will hit next
Other policy pages rules at the same severity. A registration is judged as a whole, not rule by rule.
POL-121The policy must say what it coversLowLOWPOL-137Other state-law addenda are needed where thresholds are metLowLOWPOL-138The policy should offer an accessible alternative formatLowLOWPOL-139The policy should be printableLowLOWPOL-203The terms should cover accounts and credentialsLowLOWPOL-206A retail brand's terms should cover shipping and returnsLowLOW
POL-198 is one of 157 policy pages rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.