Read this to understand and ensure your compliance with the messaging policies for the Messenger Platform. For complete details, also see the Messenger Platform section of the Facebook Platform Policy.
As of November 14th, 2016, new policies are in effect for use of the Send/Receive API are in effect for standard messaging and subscription messaging. All businesses and developers using the Send/Receive API should now be in compliance with the updated policies.
As of February 13th, 2017, businesses and developers are required to be approved for permission to send subscription messages under the new policies. If you have not already submitted your new integration or re-submitted your existing integration for approval, you are encouraged to do so immediately.
For a business to begin a conversation with a person on Messenger, the conversation must be started via one of the following entry points. Once a conversation is started, the messaging policy that applies to the conversation varies based on the message type. For more information on message types, see Standard Messaging and Subscription Messaging below.
app_destination set to MESSENGER.pages_messaging_phone_number permission to begin a conversation in this way.The following is an overview of policies that apply to Messenger Platform integrations that use standard messaging. For complete policy details, see the Messenger Platform section of the Facebook Platform Policy.
Businesses and developers using the Send API have up to 24 hours to respond to a message sent by a person in Messenger when using standard messaging. A bot may also send one additional message after the 24-hour time limit has expired. The 24-hour limit is refreshed each time a person responds to a business through one of the eligible actions listed in Messenger Conversation Entry Points. This is commonly referred to as the '24 + 1 policy'.
For information on how you may be able to send messages outside the 24-hour messaging window, see the Tags documentation, and Sponsored Messages.
The following guidelines apply to usage of the Send/Receive API for standard messaging:
Subscription messaging is allowed for specific use cases, and gives a business or developer the ability to send regular content to a person on Messenger. A user may opt-out of receiving subscription messages from a Page at any time.
Starting April 30, 2019, a Page must be approved with the Page-level Subscription Messaging feature in order to use the Broadcast API. Apps were granted the subscription messaging permission at the app-level will no longer be respected. This change is in effect immediately to v3.3+ of the Graph API, and will apply to all lower versions on July 31, 2019.
To send subscription messages, the Page admin must submit their bot for review in Page settings. Once a Page is approved, any app subscribed to the Page may send subscription messages on the Page's behalf using the Send API's NON_PROMOTIONAL_SUBSCRIPTION message tag to anyone that begins a conversation with the Page.
The following guidelines apply to usage of the Send/Receive API for subscription messaging:
Page admins may access the subscription messaging request form by doing the following:
In the form, the Page admin will be asked to provide the following:
Sponsored messaging is a form of paid advertisement sent via the Facebook Marketing API, which allows you to re-engage people who have previously started conversations with you in Messenger and who have not blocked your bot. Sponsored messaging is specifically for the purpose of sending paid messages that are outside of the 24-hour standard messaging window, and/or not allowed under subscription messaging due to containing content that is promotional in nature.
Sponsored messages may include non-promotional and promotional content that complies with all other Messenger Platform policies and Facebook advertising policies. Sponsored messages are annotated in the conversation with the word 'Sponsored' above the message.
For more information on sending sponsored messages, see Sponsored Messages
| Standard Messaging | Subscription Messaging (BETA) | Sponsored Messaging |
|---|---|---|
Messages can be sent during a 24-hour window that resets any time the person sends a message to the business. One additional bonus message may be sent outside of the 24-hour window to follow up on the conversation. For more, see 24-hour Messaging Window. Businesses may also use sponsored messaging to send a message to a person outside the 24-hour window if the person has not blocked the business. | No advertising, solicitations, marketing, or promotional content of any kind. For complete details, see Subscription Messaging - Eligible Use Cases above. | Messages may contain promotional content and be sent outside the 24-hour standard messaging window. For more information on sponsored messaging, see Sponsored Messaging above. |
The bot must be granted the following permissions to send messages with the Messenger Platform:
| Standard Messaging | Subscription Messaging (BETA) | Sponsored Messaging |
|---|---|---|
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Any time a bot is restricted for Platform Policy reasons, the page will receive an explanation of the Policy violation in an email sent to the Page Support Inbox for the app. To ask questions about a policy violation notification, respond to this email and one our our Policy team members will respond.
To access the Page Support Inbox, click 'Page Support Inbox' the left sidebar of your Page settings:
