What does ‘We detected the contents of this message may violate carrier acceptable use policies’ when sending a text mean?

The error "We detected the contents of this message may violate carrier acceptable use policies" when helping Customers via SMS/text is typically caused by one of the reasons below.

Message indicating delivery failure with a response from Kaitlin offering assistance.

Forbidden messages

There are words automatically flagged as objectionable or forbidden by carriers and are not allowed on SMS and MMS transmissions in the United States or Canada. Outbound SMSes containing forbidden words will be blocked.

See Forbidden message categories for SMS and MMS in the US and Canada to learn about categories and examples of text typically flagged by carriers as objectionable, but the most common trigger words are listed below.

Forbidden message categories for SMS/MMS in the US/Canada

Category

Examples

Notes

High-risk financial services

– Payday loans – Short term high-interest loans – New loan soliciting – Third-party loans – Student loansCryptocurrencyStocks and investing platforms

Any third-party use cases are strictly forbidden. Consent must be obtained directly from end-users. Political use case customers sending SMS messages cannot use voter registration databases to collect consent and outreach end-users. Any business with a term of service or privacy policy that mentions sharing or selling consumer data/opt-in information is considered non-compliant.

Third-party lead generation services and marketing

– Companies, NGOs or political campaigns that buy, sell, or share consumer information. – Affiliate lending – Affiliate marketing – Deceptive marketing

Any third-party use cases are strictly forbidden. Consent must be obtained directly from end-users. Political use case customers sending SMS messages cannot use voter registration databases to collect consent and reach end-users. Any business with terms of service or privacy policy that mentions sharing or selling consumer data/opt-in information is considered non-compliant.

Debt collection or forgiveness

– Third-party debt collection – Debt consolidation – Debt reduction – Debt relief – Credit/debt repair

This differs from outreach about employment due to compliant opt-in practices, messages from brokerages to their members, investment news alerts, or other investment-related messages.

“Get rich quick” schemes

– Deceptive work-from-home programs – Risk investment opportunities – Pyramid schemes – Mystery Shopping – Multi Level Marketing (MLM)

Cannabis, CBD, Kratom, or drug paraphernalia product businesses are prohibited from utilizing SMS/MMS messaging on Twilio in the US and Canada, regardless of content. These restrictions apply regardless of the federal or state legality. All use cases for these are disallowed from sending SMS, whether it contains cannabis content or not. Even for 2FA purposes, it is not permissible for such entities.

Illegal substances/articles

– Cannabis – CBD – Kratom – Paraphernalia products – Vape/E-cigs – Fireworks

Cannabis, CBD, Kratom, or drug paraphernalia product businesses are prohibited from utilizing SMS/MMS messaging on Twilio in the US and Canada, regardless of content. These restrictions apply regardless of the federal or state legality. All use cases for these are disallowed from sending SMS whether it contains cannabis content or not. Even for 2FA purposes, it is not permissible for such entities.

Prescription drugs

Drugs that require a prescription

Offers for drugs that cannot be sold over-the-counter in the US/Canada are forbidden regardless if the business is a licensed professional.

How to communicate with Customers if outbound SMS is blocked

Remove forbidden words from outbound SMS

If the "We detected the contents of this message may violate carrier acceptable use policies" error appears, find any forbidden words triggering the error and remove them. You must close the existing message and start a new one to attempt to resend the edited version of your text without the forbidden word. If you're still unable to send the message, contact Gladly Support.

Redirect inbound SMS to a different channel if it contains forbidden words

Create an SMS auto-reply Rule for messages containing forbidden keywords that your Customers may contact you about (e.g., if you're a beauty company with CBD products), and tell Customers to reach out on a different Channel, such as email or voice.

Non-compliance with SMS rules and regulations

You are missing the required consent language in your SMS communications, like your company name in your initial SMS reply. See SMS Consent and Compliance Guidelines for more information.

Contact Gladly Support if the violation error persists

The phone number generating the violation error may stop working and fail to send and receive SMSes which requires it to be unblocked by the carrier. Contact Gladly Support for assistance.

Spam

The carrier thinks the message sent by the Agent is spam. If this error is a common occurrence, below are a few options you can consider to avoid this issue.

  1. Use a 10-digit local number for SMSes to switch to if you encounter this message and the Customer does not receive it. This number acts as a backup number if outbound SMSes fail to be delivered.

  2. Use a toll-free number for SMSes that you can also use with Customers. In general, carriers are less stringent in filtering messages via toll-free numbers than standard, long code (10 digits) SMS traffic.

    • Keep in mind that toll-free doesn't support MMS (images).

    • If you're already using a toll-free number, contact Gladly Support to verify the number on the Carrier side to reduce the risk of filtering Toll-Free SMS to the US and some networks in Canada.

  3. Consider purchasing a short code if you have many outbound SMSes. We don't recommend this since options one and two (above) are usually the best routes to take if you're using text to help Customers versus bulk outbound/marketing text.

Review Types of SMS Numbers to learn the differences and pros and cons of using long, toll-free, and short code numbers.

Error 30007

This occurs if a message is identified as spam or unwanted or flagged as objectionable and blocked by a wireless carrier, as defined by the filtering system.

Below are possible solutions to avoid this error.