Prohibited & regulated industries on WhatsApp

Industries you cannot use on WhatsApp

Meta does not allow the WhatsApp Business Platform to be used to operate, buy, sell, promote, or otherwise facilitate the exchange of:

• Illegal products or services, criminal activity, or terrorist/organised criminal activity.
• Firearms, ammunition, and weapons.
• Drugs, whether prescription, recreational, or otherwise.
• Medical and healthcare products. Over-the-counter medicines have a limited approved-country exception, covered below.
• Alcohol and tobacco. Alcohol has a limited approved-country exception, covered below; tobacco has none.
• Real money gambling and gaming, including betting, lotteries, and casino games. A narrow exception exists for a few approved countries, covered below.
• Endangered species (wildlife and plants) and live non-endangered animals (other than livestock).
• Hazardous goods and materials, and body parts or fluids.
• Currency, real, virtual, or fake, including initial coin offerings (ICOs) and binary options.
• Multi-level marketing business models.
• Adult products and services, and dating services.
• Payday loans, paycheck advances, peer-to-peer lending, debt collection, and bail bonds.
• Any business model, good, item, or service Meta determines to be fraudulent, misleading, offensive, or deceptive.

These prohibitions apply no matter what global or local licences, registrations, or approvals your business holds. The full official wording is in section 4 of the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy.

Industries allowed only in approved countries

Meta calls these "Regulated Verticals": online gambling and gaming, over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, and alcohol. They aren't banned everywhere, but Meta only allows messaging about them in a specific, limited list of countries, and only when all of these requirements are met:

• Messaging happens on the WhatsApp Business Platform only. Regulated Verticals are prohibited on the WhatsApp Business App entirely.
• No catalogs or commerce features are used to buy or sell the regulated goods or services.
• Messages are age-gated to 18+ and gated to the allowed countries through technical and organisational measures.
• The business holds all required licences, permits, and registrations, and stops messaging immediately if a licence expires, is modified, or is terminated.
• Everything complies with local laws and industry codes in each country messaged.

Online gambling and gaming: 5 approved countries

Australia, Colombia, Japan, Mexico, and Peru. On top of the country list, gambling messaging needs Meta's written permission and proof of a valid licence, covered in the gambling section below.

Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs: 87 approved countries

American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kiribati, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, St. Lucia, Suriname, Thailand, The Bahamas, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uruguay, US Virgin Islands, Vanuatu, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

Alcohol: 82 approved countries

American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kiribati, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, St. Lucia, Suriname, The Bahamas, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uruguay, US Virgin Islands, Vanuatu, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

Betting and gambling: how Meta's exception works

Meta counts any product or service where something of monetary value (cash or digital currency) is part of the entry or the prize as real money gambling and gaming. That covers betting, lotteries, raffles, casino games, fantasy sports, bingo, poker, skill game tournaments, and sweepstakes, plus games that require purchases to keep playing or to improve the odds of a monetary prize. Even a promotion for gambling counts, whether or not anyone can actually gamble inside the chat.

In the five approved countries, a gambling business must additionally:

1. Request written permission from Meta using the official application form.
2. Provide evidence that its activities are licensed by a regulator, or otherwise lawful, in each country it wants to message.

Some activities don't need Meta's permission (though local laws still apply): physical "brick and mortar" casinos and their events, state or government lotteries run directly by the responsible body, prize promotions where customers buy a product at the usual retail price and gambling isn't the primary business model, and entirely free-to-play games. Full details are in section 6 of the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy.

Check before you connect

Before you start connecting your WhatsApp number, confirm your business doesn't fall into a prohibited category, and if it's one of the three regulated categories, confirm your country is on Meta's current approved list for it.

1. Read the full WhatsApp Business Policy for the official, up-to-date wording and country lists.
2. If you're unsure where your business fits, message our team before connecting so we can help you check.
3. If your business changes category later (for example, adding a regulated product line), re-check the policy, since an existing number can still be restricted retroactively.

Common questions