Prohibited Content: SHAFT & Carrier-Blocked Categories
SHAFT — Sex, Hate, Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco — plus the categories carriers block outright regardless of consent or state legality. These rejections are usually non-resubmittable, so check before you register.
Some content can never be sent over US A2P messaging — no matter how clean your opt-in is, no matter that the recipient consented, and in several cases no matter that it’s legal in the recipient’s state. These rules come from the CTIA Messaging Principles and are enforced by the carriers during campaign vetting.
SHAFT
SHAFT = Sex, Hate, Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco. Not all five are treated identically:
| Category | Status |
|---|---|
| Sex | Flatly prohibited. |
| Hate | Flatly prohibited. |
| Alcohol | Conditionally allowed — only with a verifiable age-gate (21+) on the business website. |
| Firearms / ammunition | Conditionally allowed — only with a verifiable age-gate (18+/21+ as applicable) on the business website. |
| Tobacco / vape | Generally prohibited. |
For the conditionally-allowed categories, the age-gate must be real and verifiable on the brand’s website, and the campaign must flag age-gated content. A landing page that simply says “you must be 21” with no gating mechanism does not qualify.
Independently blocked categories
These are blocked regardless of state legality or consent. Even with perfect PEWC, they cannot be registered for A2P:
- Cannabis, CBD, hemp, kratom — driven by the federal illegality of cannabis (state legalization is irrelevant to the carriers).
- High-risk financial services — payday / short-term high-interest loans, new-loan solicitations, student loans, and crypto / stock-investment offers.
- Debt — debt collection, debt consolidation / forgiveness, and credit repair.
- “Get-rich-quick” / MLM — work-from-home schemes, pyramid / multi-level marketing, mystery-shopper offers.
- Third-party lead generation / affiliate marketing — consent must be collected directly by the sender; bought or shared leads are prohibited for texting (see TCPA basics on why the dead one-to-one rule doesn’t change this).
- Gambling / sports betting / casino — licensed state lotteries and sweepstakes may qualify for a special short-code review, but standard 10DLC will not carry it.
- Non-OTC prescription drugs.
- Phishing / deceptive / fraudulent content — including public link shorteners that obscure the destination.
What to do if your content is in scope
- Conditionally-allowed (alcohol, firearms): implement a verifiable age-gate on the website, then register and flag the age-gated content. This is the only path.
- Independently blocked: there is no compliant path on 10DLC. Either remove the content from the program, or — for narrow cases like licensed gambling/lottery — pursue the dedicated short-code special-review route, which is a different (and slower, more expensive) process.
Next
- Campaign rejection reasons — the full rejection table, including the prohibited-content codes.
- Consent & opt-in — the lead-gen / direct-consent rule in detail.
- TCPA basics — why bought leads stay off-limits even after the one-to-one rule died.