Restricted Content Guidelines

Restricted Content Guidelines

1. Unlawful, Unapproved, or Illicit Content

No messaging programs can run on the Text message carrier network that may promote unlawful, unapproved, or illicit content, including but not limited to:

  • SPAM
  • Fraudulent or misleading messages
  • Depictions or endorsements of violence
  • Inappropriate content
  • Profanity or hate speech
  • Endorsement of illegal drugs

Programs must operate according to all applicable federal and state laws and regulations. In addition, the content must be legal across all 50 states. All content must be appropriate for the intended audience. Additional legal and ethical obligations apply when marketing to children under age 13, and such programs might be subject to additional review by the Text message carrier. Aggregators and Message Senders are expected to enforce restrictions on their networks to prevent onboarding these types of content.

If determined to support any of the following restricted content, the Text message carrier reserves the right to take actions including, but not limited to:

  • Suspension of sending rights for provisioned application address or campaign
  • Restriction of onboarding new message campaigns
  • Suspension of provisioning rights for new application address
  • Suspension of all network services on the Text message carrier network

2. Disallowed Content

The following content categories are considered deceitful and nuisance campaigns which may result in high volumes of SPAM complaints on the Text message carrier network. Due to these issues, we will no longer support any campaign under the following categories, regardless of any prior approval. Messaging use cases that support the disallowed content outlined below may request an official exception in writing by the Text message carrier through an official Text message carrier exception approval process. Any exception that existed before September 1, 2020, should be considered invalid.

High-Risk Financial Services

  • Payday Loans
  • Non-Direct Lenders
  • Debt Collection

Debt Forgiveness

  • Debt Consolidation
  • Debt Reduction
  • Credit Repair Programs

Illegal Substances

  • Cannabis
  • Illegal Prescriptions

Work & Investment Opportunities

  • Work from Home Programs
  • Job Alerts from 3rd Party Recruiting Firms
  • Risk Investment Opportunities

Other

  • Gambling
  • Any other illegal content
  • Lead generation indicating the sharing of collected information with third parties
  • Campaign types not in compliance with the recommendations of or prohibited by the CTIA Short Code Monitoring Handbook, Version 1.7, or later
  • Campaign types not in compliance with the recommendations of or prohibited by the CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices – 2019 version

3. Phishing

Phishing is the practice of sending messages that appear to come from reputable companies but trick consumers into revealing personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.

4. Fraud or Scam

Any messages that constitute fraud or scam which involves wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain. These messages generally involve money and/or some sort of business transaction.

5. Deceptive Marketing

Marketing messages must be truthful, not misleading, and when appropriate, backed by scientific evidence to meet the standard held by the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) “Truth in Advertising” rules. The FTC Act prohibits unfair or deceptive advertising in any medium, including text.

6. Compliance Audits and Notices

Consumers may choose to block unwanted messaging traffic on the Text message carrier network. To protect our consumers and keep non-consumer messaging healthy, the Text message carrier has launched an internal compliance and policy monitoring program. In conjunction with CTIA efforts, the Text message carrier's program will monitor messaging campaigns, and audit notices may result in violations against industry best practices and the Text message carrier Code of Conduct. Immediate action must take place shall external-monitoring efforts or the Text message carrier-monitoring efforts identify traffic as a potential for consumer harm, with Severity-0 representing the most extreme violations. The Text message carrier reserves the right to protect our consumers by turning down a messaging campaign on a case-by-case basis.

For Severitys:

  • Immediate suspension of messaging campaign
  • Notification to DCA of severity incident
  • The Text message carrier will issue an RCA document and it must be completed in its entirety
  • The Messaging provider will have 24-48 hours to complete the correct action and return the RCA
  • The identified root cause must be corrected to request reinstatement of the messaging program

If there are several offenses on Content Provider and/or application address, this may result in the indefinite suspension of the messaging sender and campaign(s).

7. Age Gating

The Text message carrier may, at its discretion and at any time, suspend, terminate, or not approve any Messaging Program it feels does not promote a legal, age-appropriate, or positive customer experience. All content must adhere to all applicable laws and support a functioning age gate when associated with, but not limited to, sex, alcohol, firearms, tobacco, and/or any other age-restricted content that must comply with legal regulations. Non-acceptable age gating functions include but are not limited to Yes or No responses. The age-gate mechanism should include the date of birth verification during the consent opt-in of the consumer.

8. Political Messaging

The Text message carrier supports all political parties and messages to their constituents. To run political messaging, the requirements are the campaigns run on the correct non-consumer channel. We require all parties who support political messaging services to follow CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices, CTIA Political Campaign Messaging Document, as well as the Text message carrier Code of Conduct. We especially require any political campaigns to honor “STOP” opt-out requests from subscribers.

9. Shopping Cart Reminders

The Text message carrier policy regarding shopping cart reminder notifications is as follows:

General Requirements

  1. Call to Action via the website must include within the opt-in terms and conditions details that the message program includes shopping cart reminder
  2. Shopping cart message program must incorporate a double opt-in mechanism via text
  3. Double opt-in message content must clearly inform the user that the message program includes shopping cart reminders
  4. Campaign submissions must be filed as an “Account Information” campaign with a detailed description highlighting the message program will include shopping cart reminders

Additional Privacy Policy Disclosures

  1. The privacy policy must explicitly state how information is captured by the e-commerce site to determine when a consumer cart has been abandoned (e.g. website cookies, plugins, etc.).
  2. Terms and conditions must reflect the new policy

Delivery and Content Restrictions

  1. Text reminders must be sent within 48 hours and limited to one alert per unique abandoned cart
  2. Abandoned cart notification must not result in the e-commerce site completing the transaction on behalf of the consumer
    • Abandoned cart notification must not collect payment information or accept approval for purchase via keyword confirmation from the consumer
    • Consumers must complete the transaction by processing payment themselves via a direct URL link to the e-commerce website.

10. Free-To-End User Programs

FTEU is currently available only for Shortcode messaging programs. FTEU programs must display a clear call-to-action, capture consumers’ affirmative opt-in, send an opt-in confirmation message, and abide by customers’ requests to opt-out. However, all FTEU programs are exempt from displaying “message and data rates may apply” in advertisements, terms and conditions, and messages. If the content provider’s messaging program needs free delivery, the program must be supported on a dedicated Shortcode.

11. Controlled Substances and Adult Content

All content should be appropriate for the intended audience. Messaging content for controlled substances or distribution of adult content might be subject to additional Text message carrier review. The Text message carrier retains the sole discretion to determine if the content is allowed or not. Messages should include robust age verification at opt-in (e.g., electronic confirmation of age and identity). The following is a non-exhaustive list of examples types of content not allowed under this provision:

  • Content promoting underage, non-consensual, or other illegal sexual themes, whether simulated or real.
    • Examples: Rape, incest, bestiality, necrophilia, Lolita or teen-themed pornography, underage dating
  • Content that may be interpreted as promoting a sexual act in exchange for compensation.
    • Examples: Prostitution, companionship and escort services, intimate massage and similar services, cuddling sites
  • Content promoting the sexual exploitation of minors
    • Examples: Child sexual abuse imagery or other content
  • Content that is made to appear appropriate for a family audience but contains adult themes, including sex, violence, vulgarity, or other depictions of children or popular children’s characters, that are unsuitable for a general audience
  • Alcohol and drinks that resemble alcohol or brands which target minors

12. Charitable Donation Programs

The Text message carrier cares about charitable donations and protecting consumers from fraudulent harm. There are two paths in which charitable donations are supported on the Text message carrier network:

  1. Direct-carrier billing running on Premium Shortcode supported by Text message carrier Mobile Giving Aggregator
  2. Dedicated application address with donation URL link supported by DCA

Charitable donation programs must conform to the non-profit messaging guidelines in the CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices. All Charitable Organizations must meet the following qualifications:

  • Qualified as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code are eligible;
  • Charitable organizations must be accredited by at least one arm’s-length, disinterested non-profit accreditation organization (e.g., Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance, Charity Navigator);
  • Charitable organizations must receive separate opt-in for informational and solicitation messages if they provide both types of messages under the same Short Code;
  • Charitable organizations may not use the message program for lotteries, sweepstakes, raffles, or recurring donations;
  • No entities involved in the donation campaign, aside from the charitable organization itself, may use any part of the mobile subscriber data collected; and
  • For charitable donations programs outside of direct-carrier billing, the dedicated application address must be leased/owned by the charitable organization.

Furthermore, charitable donation programs supported by a DCA must provide the following requirements:

  • Charitable donation campaign must be set up on a dedicated application address
  • Provide the following Charitable Organization information for proof of qualified as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code:
    1. Name of Company/Non-Profit Organization
    2. Tax Identification (EIN)
    3. Charitable Organization Website
    4. Accreditation Organization Website Listing Company/Non-Profit

13. Emergency Notifications

Messaging campaigns supporting emergency notifications are suggested to run on FTEU provisioned Shortcodes. If an emergency notification needs to be sent at the Federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial alerting authorities, it is suggested to use IPAWS/WEA and integrate local systems that use Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) standards with the IPAWS infrastructure.

  • WEA is a public safety notification system administered through FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS) that enables authorized agencies to send text-like messages to consumers with capable wireless.
  • IPAWS provides public safety officials with an effective way to alert and warn the public about serious emergencies using:
    • Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA),
    • Emergency Alert System (EAS),
    • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio, and
    • Other public alerting systems from a single interface.
  • The Text message carrier (along with the other nationwide carriers) participates in the WEA program.

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