Who can use it
- A business, non-profit, or public agency with a genuine presence: a site, a shop, or official documents.
- Teams that can name an admin for the Meta business portfolio.
- Senders who collect opt-in before marketing, and who answer customers inside the inbox.
You do not need a large company. You do need a use case Meta allows, and a number you control.
Uses that are refused or tightly limited
Meta’s commerce and business policies change by country. These are the areas that most often fail review or lose the number after go-live:
- Illegal goods, weapons, and adult sexual content.
- Real-money gambling where local rules or Meta’s rules block it.
- Tobacco, and some alcohol promotions, depending on the country.
- Misleading loans, fake job offers, and “guaranteed profit” messages.
- Lead lists you bought, scraped, or guessed.
If your category is government, start with WhatsApp for government before embedded signup. If you are unsure, write to us with the website and a sample message. We would rather pause signup than connect a number Meta will remove.
Stay in good standing
- Match template category to the text. A promotion filed as utility is a common rejection. See templates.
- Watch quality rating. Blocks and reports, not send volume alone, push a number to red.
- Honor stop requests. Keep marketing frequency low enough that people do not report the chat.
- Keep the Meta payment method valid so utility and marketing templates are not refused for billing.
FAQ
Can a sole trader apply?
Yes, if the display name, documents, and website describe that same activity. A personal nickname with no public business is likely to fail display-name or verification review.
What happens if the business is in a restricted category?
Meta can reject the WhatsApp account, pause templates, or ban the number. Appealing a ban is described in the Help Center. Opening a second number to continue the same traffic usually bans both.
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