Acceptable Use Guidelines and Policy

SimpSocial automation and broadcaster are great tools to get in touch with new prospects at scale. However, with SMS becoming more popular these days, and robocalls being banned in the country, there are certain rules that we have to understand and adhere to. These rules are governed by various FCC regulations and TCPA laws. As an SimpSocial customer, you explicitly certify and warrant that you adhere to the guidelines below for all originating or terminating voice, SMS, or email traffic.

The guidelines below are applicable to our Power Dialer, bulk SMS, bulk RVM, automation, and ANY use of our phone numbers in either sending outbound traffic or generating inbound traffic.

The rules below are enforced at 3 levels:

SimpSocial: We may occasionally review your account to ensure compliance with these guidelines. Any violation, determined at our discretion, might result in suspension or termination of your account without prior notice. We do not issue refunds to banned/suspended accounts.
- Furthermore, You acknowledge and agree that in the event of an Account Suspension, solely at our discretion, for any reason mentioned here or lack of payment, all phone numbers in your account are disconnected, forfeited and subject to immediate release.
Carriers: Our carrier group occasionally reviews the traffic originating from SimpSocial. The carriers (both originating and terminating) have different levels of spam blocking based on the content you send out. This is not controlled by us. If you see a lot of blocked messages, your content is probably being blocked at the carrier level.
Government: FCC and TCPA both allow for the recipient of your messages to file complaints against unauthorized contact. In the event of such a complaint, we will forward all supporting documentation (such as your name and address) to the government entity requesting the information without prior notice. You explicitly give us the authorization to release your information to any government agency, law enforcement agency, or court requesting evidence.

Acceptable Use

You must adhere to and be fully compliant with the following criteria for all broadcasting operations on SimpSocial, including bulk SMS, automation sequences, outbound calling, or use of our phone numbers for online advertising. If you are running your campaigns on behalf of another entity or using SimpSocial API for messaging, it is your responsibility to ensure your customers are adhering to the rules below. Any violation of these terms may result in immediate suspension of your account.

Forbidden content. Any message content that falls into one of the following categories is strictly prohibited:
- S – Sex (Pornography, human/sex trafficking, prostitution, camgirls)
- H – Hate (including but not limited to abuse, discrimination, violence, harassment)
- A – Alcohol (sale or encouragement)
- F – Firearms (including ammunition)
- T – Tobacco (including vaping, Cannabis, & CBD products)
- Additionally, these categories are also prohibited:
  ⦁ Payday loans
  ⦁ Loan/Debt Consolidation
  ⦁ Debt Forgiveness
  ⦁ Debt Collection
  ⦁ Credit Repair
  ⦁ Tax Refund Loans
  ⦁ Gambling/Casino
  ⦁ Multi-level Marketing/Pyramid Schemes
  ⦁ Malware, viruses, or other malicious content
  ⦁ Offering customer support for products or companies you are not authorized as a reseller
Opt-in Consent Requirement. You must have documentation (proof) of prior written consent or “opt-in” from the subscribers you are messaging or calling.
- We reserve the right to request written consent and proof of opt-in at any time.
- TCPA regulations require you to keep the proof of consent for a number of years.
Opt-out. It is your responsibility to manage “opt-out” requests to ensure that they get processed properly and that the subscriber’s mobile number is immediately taken out of your contact list to prevent further messages being sent to their number.
- You must provide reasonable mechanisms for the subscriber to opt-out of your marketing campaigns, meaning they should be able to respond with any variation of “Stop” or “Opt-out.”
- SimpSocial will automatically remove contacts from bulk messaging when we receive an explicit STOP request.
- The best practice here is to include relevant verbiage, “Reply stop to unsubscribe” in your messages.
Do Not Call (DNC) registry. It is your responsibility to verify the mobile subscribers you are messaging are not listed on the national and individual state DNC databases.
- SimpSocial’s DNC utility DOES NOT verify the national DNC registry and should only be used as an internal tool.
- We may randomly inspect your message traffic to verify that your recipients are not on any of the DNC list(s).\
- Any number found on the DNC list during an active campaign will incur a $5 surcharge.
- Misleading or Malicious links or URLs. If the URLs you are sending direct or redirect to websites that are fraudulent, phish for consumer data (social security numbers and credit card information), or bait subscribers into completing forms with the false premise they will win a prize, you are in violation. Also, weblinks/URL’s that trigger software downloads the subscriber was not made aware of.
- Misrepresenting your identity. If you are selling products or services on behalf of others or resembling others (such as other businesses or government agencies) you should maintain and provide relevant licensing information authorizing you to do so.
- Trademark violations. If you are running campaigns for the sale or service of a trademarked product, you should maintain and prove that you have the authorization to do so.
- Sending multiple messages in succession with a mobile subscriber that is not engaged in 2-way communication with you is strictly prohibited.
- Forbidden hours for messaging. Sending messages between the hours of 8 AM and 9 PM local time to the mobile subscriber you are messaging.

TCPA Compliance And Indemnification.

a. Client shall use any and all SimpSocial services for customer outreach (“SimpSocial Services”), whether provided via electronic mail, SMS/text messaging/telephone calls, voicemails, autodialers, artificial or prerecorded messages, or any other medium, in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations (including, without limitation, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) (and its consent requirements), Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), and all other federal and state laws and regulations governing consumer contacts and notifications) and all applicable policies of carriers. Client shall be solely responsible for the content of all messages, the selection of recipients of the messages, the procurement from the recipient of all applicable consents (which consents must, among other things, satisfy the TCPA and TSR requirements), and the manner, time and means of delivery of such messages.

b. Without limiting and in addition to the foregoing, to the extent SimpSocial Services facilitate or affect the delivery of any SMS/text messaging to customers of Client consistent with this Section___, Client represents and warrants that no outreach via SimpSocial Services will be attempted for marketing purposes unless the called party has supplied their express written consent by accepting (via signature acceptable under the E-Sign Act) a clear and conspicuous disclosure, that is displayed to the called party in a manner in accordance with the law, as part of a transparent and non-misleading consumer experience whereby the called party agrees to provide express written consent to receive marketing or promotional messages to a specific cell phone via the use of automated telephone dialing equipment, or prerecorded or artificial voice messages, or via automated text messages

c. Each and every use by Client of SimpSocial Services to contact any called party shall constitute a representation and warranty by Client that: (i) it has familiarized itself with all applicable regulations, standards, and case law respecting properly obtaining the valid express written consent; (ii) that it has obtained the needed consent from the called party with respect to that outreach attempt; and (iii) that a record of the express written consent will be maintained by Client for seven years and supplied to SimpSocial within two business days of the request, irrespective of the termination of this agreement.

d. Client further represents and warrants that the express written consent it obtains will comply in all respects with the TCPA or any other laws, rules, or regulations (whether state or federal), related to the granting of consent (or such analogous acts). Client also represents and warrants that it will not upload for use of the SimpSocial Services any lead for which the called party has not provided the requisite consent under the TCPA. Further, in the event of any opt-out by any called party, Client represents and warrants that it will obtain any required prior consent for that called party before recommencing any outreach campaign to the called party. In no event shall SimpSocial owe any responsibility to review, or validate the existence or suitability of any consent record.

e. If any third party (including any governmental agency or authority) notifies SimpSocial, or if SimpSocial otherwise is made aware, that Client’s use of the SimpSocial Services may violate any federal, state or local law or regulation, including but not limited to the TCPA or TSR, SimpSocial may at any time thereafter on notice to Client suspend Client’s use of the SimpSocial Services until SimpSocial receives reasonable assurance that Client’s use does not violate such law or regulation.

f. Client shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless SimpSocial, each of its affiliated independent contractor agents, and its and their respective agents, employees, lawyers, subsidiaries, directors, members, partners and successors (“SimpSocial Indemnified Parties”) from and against any and all claims, proceedings and demands asserted or alleged by third parties against an SimpSocial Indemnified Party (Claims), as well as any damages, settlements, judgments, losses, liabilities, costs and expenses (including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees) incurred in connection therewith, that arise out of or are in any way related to Client’s breach of, or failure to comply with, the terms of this Section____, including, without limitation, any claim that each or any of the SimpSocial Indemnified Parties violated the TCPA, the TSR, or any related regulation or law. Client shall be fully responsible to defend any SimpSocial Indemnified Party against any such claim or suit, with the SimpSocial Indemnified Party having the right to choose its counsel, at Client’s sole cost. Client shall owe the defense and indemnity obligation without regard to the ultimate merits of any suit or claim and shall be responsible for any settlement payments to extinguish any claim against any SimpSocial Indemnified Party arising out of any actual or alleged failure of Client to comply with the representations of this paragraph, even if a resolution is made before Client has formally accepted its indemnity or defense obligations.

Examples
We have provided some samples for you with what is considered good and bad marketing SMS.

example-use-policy

It is your responsibility to make sure your (or your customer’s) message traffic is in compliance with all federal laws, State laws, and CTIA guidelines. For your convenience, we have provided links to those regulations and guidelines here:

TCPA, FCC, CTIA laws

For telemarking laws by the FCC, please click here.
For the most recent TCPA/FCC Advisory on Bulk Messaging click here.
For CTIA Best Practices on Messaging click here.

Canadian CAN-SPAM and CASL laws

For CAN-SPAM act click here.
For laws and regulations on messaging in Canada click here.