Meta's own enforcement of its WhatsApp policies: warnings, 1- to 30-day messaging blocks, account locks, permanent disables, Business Support Home, appeals, the violation categories Meta lists, and the account_update signals.

How WhatsApp enforces its own policies on WhatsApp Business Platform accounts: the warning-to-disable escalation, where Meta shows a violation, how to request a review, and the violation categories Meta lists. Everything on this page describes Meta's rules as Meta documents them in its policy enforcement and policy violations guides (updated May 21, 2026).

Meta's Policies, Not Dualhook's

These are Meta's policies, and Meta enforces them. WhatsApp decides whether a business has violated the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy, the WhatsApp Commerce Policy, or the WhatsApp Business Terms of Service, and which restriction follows. Meta can change the policies, the enforcement steps, and the category list at any time. Its own policy pages are the authoritative version.

Sending through the official Cloud API, or connecting through a Tech Provider such as Dualhook, does not exempt a business from these policies. Meta enforces on the business's own WhatsApp accounts, whichever provider or app sends the messages.

Dualhook Boundary

Dualhook does not write, apply, review, or lift Meta's enforcement. It cannot see more of Meta's reasoning than the webhook carries, and it cannot appeal, reverse, or escalate a violation, restriction, or disable on your behalf. Reviews are requested by the business itself in Business Support Home (see Appeals).

What Dualhook does with Meta's enforcement signals:

Dualhook's Meta app is subscribed to account_update. It records each violation, restriction, and disable event and forwards it to your configured endpoint.
It emails your workspace admins when Meta reports a policy violation, disables an account, or schedules one for disable.
A disable, a scheduled disable, or a customer-initiated messaging restriction pauses the affected connection until Meta lifts it. While it is paused, the Runtime API answers sends with connection_not_routable instead of passing them to Meta, and Dualhook pauses the connection's webhook routing.
A business-initiated restriction on its own blocks only what Meta blocks. Until Meta's expiry, the Runtime API refuses template sends with business_initiated_restricted, while replies inside an open customer service window and incoming webhooks keep working.
A violation warning on its own does not stop sending.

Separately from Meta's enforcement, Dualhook's own Terms of Service do not allow Dualhook to be used for businesses, products, or content that Meta or WhatsApp prohibit.

How Meta Enforces

Meta starts with a warning that names the policy the account violated. If a business keeps violating the policies, for example by sending spam, misclassifying templates, or trading in high-risk categories such as adult content, alcohol and tobacco, drugs, gambling, or unsafe supplements, Meta applies messaging restrictions that grow in duration:

Step	What Meta blocks
1- or 3-day block	Sending marketing, utility, and authentication templates, and adding phone numbers to the account
5-, 7-, or 30-day block	Sending any messages, and adding phone numbers to the account
Account lock	Sending any messages, with no end date. Only an appeal removes it
Permanent disable	Removal from the WhatsApp Business Platform, after repeated warnings and restrictions without a change in behavior

Meta skips these steps when a violation causes severe harm to users, such as child exploitation, scams, terrorism, or the sale of illegal drugs. It offboards those businesses immediately. Meta can also limit or offboard a business whose account receives excessive negative feedback from users.

While a restriction is active, affected sends fail, typically with error 368 or, for a locked account, error 131031.

This escalation is separate from quality-rating messaging limits (see Capacity, Quality & Limits) and from Meta's own ladder for utility template misuse.

Where Violations Show Up

Meta shows the details of a violation in Business Support Home:

Meta Business Suite: All tools in the left-side menu, then Business Support Home, then Account Overview (the speedometer icon) if needed.
Business Manager: the All tools icon (three horizontal lines) at the top of the page, then Business Support Home, then Account Overview if needed.

For each violation, Business Support Home shows a summary of the policy with a link to it, examples of allowed and disallowed content, any active restriction and what happens on a repeat violation, how to avoid future violations, and how to appeal.

Meta also notifies a violation through:

the Business Manager Notifications Center and a banner in WhatsApp Manager,
an email to every admin of the business portfolio (keep admin details in Business Manager current, or these emails go unread),
the account_update webhook (see Webhook Signals).

Appeals

If a business believes it complies with Meta's policies, it can request a review:

In Business Support Home, select the relevant Messaging account.
Choose the violation and click Request Review.
Enter supporting details in the dialog and click Submit. The request moves to the In Review tab.

Meta sends its decision through Business Manager and says a review typically takes 24 to 48 hours. The violation is then either Unchanged or Reversed. If it is reversed, the account returns to its previous status.

Depending on the violation type and eligibility, Meta lets a business appeal a violation or acknowledge it. Restricted and disabled accounts can still do either. Not every spam violation can be appealed: some businesses have to wait until the restriction period ends before messaging again.

Violation Categories

Meta lists these policy violations and says it may adjust the list over time. The table summarizes Meta's rule for each. Meta's policy pages give examples of what each category allows and what it does not, so check them before deciding whether a product falls under a category.

Violation	What Meta prohibits
`ADULT`	The sale or use of adult products or services
`ALCOHOL`	The sale of alcohol
`ANIMALS`	The sale of any animals
`BODY_PARTS_FLUIDS`	The sale of human body parts or fluids
`DATING`	Transacting in or facilitating online dating services
`DIGITAL_SERVICES_PRODUCTS`	The sale of digital content, digital subscriptions, or digital accounts, including links to or processing of subscription sales, renewals, and upgrades
`DRUGS`	The sale of illegal, prescription, or recreational drugs. Manufacturers and healthcare services that do not sell directly are allowed
`GAMBLING`	Transacting in or facilitating gambling, games of skill, or lotteries that cost money, including online casinos, sports books, bingo, and poker
`HEALTHCARE`	Certain healthcare products, including medical devices and smoking cessation products containing nicotine. Manufacturers and healthcare services that do not sell directly are allowed
`ILLEGAL_PRODUCTS`	The operation or exchange of illegal products or services
`MISLEADING`	Business models, goods, or services Meta determines are fraudulent, misleading, offensive, deceptive, or exploitative, or that exert undue pressure on targeted groups, such as multilevel marketing, penny auctions, ICOs and binary options, and payday loans
`OVERTLY_SEXUALIZED_POSITIONING`	Positioning products or services in a sexually suggestive manner
`REAL_FAKE_CURRENCY`	The sale of real, virtual, or fake currency, such as cash, cryptocurrency, or replica money
`SCAM`	Any activity that promotes or facilitates scams
`SUPPLEMENTS`	The sale of unsafe ingestible supplements, as WhatsApp determines at its sole discretion
`THIRD_PARTY_INFRINGEMENTS`	Content that infringes intellectual property rights, including counterfeit goods and pirated copies of copyrighted works
`TOBACCO`	The sale of tobacco products or tobacco paraphernalia
`UNAUTHORIZED_MEDIA`	The sale of devices that facilitate unauthorized streaming of digital content or interfere with electronic devices
`WEAPONS`	The sale or use of weapons, ammunition, or explosives

Webhook Signals

Meta reports enforcement on the account_update webhook field:

event: ACCOUNT_VIOLATION with violation_info.violation_type naming the violation.
event: ACCOUNT_RESTRICTION with restriction_info[], each entry carrying a restriction_type and an expiration.
event: DISABLED_UPDATE with ban_info for a disable, a scheduled disable, or a reinstatement.

violation_type is not limited to the category list above. Dualhook also receives SPAM and SCRIPTED_BM, which Meta's list neither includes nor defines. Keep unknown values rather than rejecting them.

Preventing Violations

Meta's guidance for avoiding further violations:

Read the WhatsApp Commerce Policy and the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy, and Meta's FAQ on them.
Watch account_update so you can change behavior quickly, before Meta adds warnings or restrictions.
Follow the Business Messaging Policy's practices for high-quality messages, starting with opt-in. Meta requires opt-in before messaging people on WhatsApp. See User Opt-In and Messaging Best Practices.

WhatsApp Error 368: sends blocked by a policy restriction.
WhatsApp Error 131031: account locked.
account_update webhook: event values and nested objects.
Maintain Account Health: quality, opt-out, and incident playbook.

WhatsApp Policy Enforcement & Violations