Disallowed Content in the US and Canada
There are tight guidelines on the types of messages below. Rules and regulations for sending SMS are always changing, so the list below is not set in stone, and will be updated as new information becomes available. Typically though, banned use cases are not removed from the list, they are added as the networks set down new rules and get stricter.
The only types of sender ID's that are allowed in the US and Canada are dedicated long codes (Toll free numbers, and 10 digit long codes) and dedicated short codes. Shared numbers are no longer used in the US and Canada.
Red items are never allowed
High-Risk Financial Services
- Payday loans - never acceptable
- Student loans - never acceptable
- Short-term high interest loans - never acceptable
- Auto/vehicle loans - never acceptable in the US
- Mortgage loans - never acceptable
- Stock alerts -never acceptable
* Transactional traffic is permitted.
Get Rich Quick Schemes
- Work from home programs - never acceptable
- Multi-level marketing - never acceptable
- Risk investment opportunities - never acceptable
Job Postings
- Third party job boards - never acceptable
Debt Collection
- Debt collection - never acceptable
Debt Forgiveness
- Debt consolidation - never acceptable
- Debt reduction - never acceptable
- Credit repair programs - never acceptable
Illegal Substances
- All schedule 1 & 2 drugs - never acceptable
- Cannabis/CBD/Kratom - never acceptable
- You can check for list of cannabis related keywords here: Cannabis/Marijuana/CBD keywords
Other
- Phishing - never acceptable
- Fraud or scam - never acceptable
- Deceptive marketing - never acceptable
- Affiliate marketing (commission for marketing another person's or company's products) - never acceptable
- Gambling/betting/lottery/sweepstakes - never acceptable
- Crypto currency related content - never acceptable
- Investments - never acceptable Stock Alerts
- Any commercial URL shorteners, such as Bitly and TinyURL should not be used. They will cause your message to fail. Instead you can use our URL shortener found in the SMS campaign section of your dashboard.
SHAFT
A use case that features any item below, is not allowed.
- Sex
- Hate
- Alcohol
- Firearms
- Tobacco - This includes vaping
* US Alcohol-related content is allowed to be sent from TFN numbers with an age gate. An acceptable age gate would consist of, at miniumum, a recipent entering a day, month, and year confirming their age at messaging opt-in prior to receiving messages. A tick box, check box, or age gate that asks if the recipent is over a certain age is not considered an acceptable age gate.