Meta's rule is short: before you send a business-initiated message on WhatsApp, the person must have agreed to receive messages from you on WhatsApp. Everything else is detail — but the detail is where businesses get into trouble.
What a valid opt-in contains
Three things, together:
- The person's clear action. A ticked box, a typed number, a tapped button. Not a pre-ticked checkbox, not silence.
- Your business name. They agreed to hear from you specifically.
- That the messages come on WhatsApp. Consent for email or SMS is not consent for WhatsApp.
Where you can collect it
Meta deliberately allows opt-in to be collected almost anywhere, as long as the three elements above are present:
- A checkbox on your website checkout or contact form.
- A field in your app or customer portal.
- In person — a form at the counter, or a signup sheet.
- Over the phone, if you record that consent was given.
- On WhatsApp itself: if a customer messages you first, that is the strongest signal there is.
What does not count
- A purchased list of phone numbers.
- Numbers scraped from anywhere.
- "You accepted our terms and conditions, which mention marketing."
- Consent for SMS or email, reused for WhatsApp.
- A pre-ticked box.
Keep the record
You should be able to answer, for any number you message: when consent was given, where, and what the person saw when they gave it. If a customer complains — or Meta asks — that record is your defence. Screenshots of the consent surface and a timestamp per contact are enough for most businesses.
Opting out
Honour a stop request immediately, in whatever words it arrives. "Stop", "unsubscribe", "לא מעוניין", or simply "don't message me again" all mean the same thing. In WeizChat, a customer marked as blocked for delivery is never included when a campaign audience is built — the exclusion happens in the query that assembles the audience, not as a filter someone might forget to apply.
Why it is worth taking seriously
Beyond the policy: blocks and "report" taps feed your quality rating, and a low rating cuts how many people you may message per day. Opt-in discipline is not only compliance — it is what keeps the channel working.