Compliance and opt-outs

UgaText enforces Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) and East African telecom anti-spam directives through a real-time 21-rule compliance engine. Every message is checked before it reaches the carrier.

Content rules

Sender identity

Every broadcast must come from a verified alphanumeric Sender ID (3 to 11 characters) or the default UGATEXT. Impersonating banks, government agencies, or telecom operators (for example MTN, AIRTEL, BOU, URA) without authorization is rejected with 403 COMPLIANCE_BLOCKED.

Prohibited content

These are blocked automatically (decision BLOCK):

Phishing links
Fake Mobile Money PIN prompts
Unlicensed loan scams
Betting or gambling broadcasts to unverified lists
Fraudulent impersonation

Promotional quiet hours

Promotional and marketing broadcasts may only be sent between 07:00 and 21:00 EAT (Africa/Kampala). Transactional messages such as OTPs, payment receipts, and security alerts can be sent 24/7.

URL and link shortener inspection

Shortened URLs that hide malicious redirects or credential-harvesting domains are flagged for review (decision REVIEW) or blocked.

Opt-outs

Include an opt-out line

Marketing and promotional campaigns must end with clear unsubscribe instructions, for example Reply STOP to unsubscribe.

Suppression list

A number is added to your opt-out suppression list immediately when:

The recipient replies STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, or OPTOUT.
You add it from the dashboard or through the API (/api/opt-outs).

Sending promotional SMS to a suppressed number returns 422 NUMBER_SUPPRESSED_ON_OPT_OUT_LIST.

In bulk broadcasts, suppressed numbers are filtered out before billing, so you are not charged for them.

Pre-flight compliance check

Validate message copy before you send with POST /compliance/inspect.

curl -X POST https://ugatext.com/api/v1/compliance/inspect \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "sender_id": "UGATEXT",
    "message": "Your verification code is 482910. Valid for 10 minutes."
  }'

Field	Description
`decision`	`APPROVE`, `REVIEW`, or `BLOCK`.
`risk_score`	Risk from 0 to 100.
`encoding`	`GSM-7` or `UCS-2`.
`sms_parts`	Number of segments the message uses.
`violations`	Rules the message breaks.
`warnings`	Issues that do not block sending.

Status	Code	Meaning
403	`COMPLIANCE_BLOCKED`	The message or Sender ID failed compliance checks.
422	`NUMBER_SUPPRESSED_ON_OPT_OUT_LIST`	The recipient opted out of promotional messages.

See Errors and limits for all error codes.

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Compliance and opt-outs

Content rules

Opt-outs

Include an opt-out line

Suppression list

Pre-flight compliance check

​Content rules

​Opt-outs

​Include an opt-out line

​Suppression list

​Pre-flight compliance check

​Related errors

Content rules

Opt-outs

Include an opt-out line

Suppression list

Pre-flight compliance check

Related errors