# RCS acceptable use What you can and can't send over RCS: Google's Acceptable Use Policy applies to every RCS agent, and its prohibited-content rules — deception, scams, and financial fraud above all — decide whether your agent stays verified and delivering. **Language:** en **Audience:** platform **TLDR:** RCS runs on Google's network, so Google's Acceptable Use Policy applies to every message your RCS agent sends. The core rule for a marketing brand: don't deceive, mislead or confuse people for financial gain or to harm them — no fake reviews, get-rich-quick schemes, advance-fee offers, romance or investment scams, or fake sweepstakes. Google also bans illegal, dangerous, hateful, sexual or violent content. Breaking these rules can get your agent suspended or your registration rejected, and Google is the source of record — this page summarizes it and links to the full policy. **Translation key:** platform.channels.rcs.acceptable-use **Search keywords:** acceptable use policy, aup, prohibited content, rcs rules, rcs restrictions, what can't i send, google policy, google rcs terms, scam, fraud, deceptive content, fake reviews, get rich quick, advance fee, romance scam, investment scam, fake sweepstakes, phishing, agent suspended, agent verification **Related pages:** /platform/es/channels/rcs/acceptable-use, /platform/en/channels/rcs/what-is-rcs, /platform/en/channels/rcs/agent-best-practices, /platform/en/channels/compliance-defaults **Docs index (every page):** https://docs.instasent.com/llms.txt **This zone's index:** https://docs.instasent.com/platform/en/llms.txt **This page:** https://docs.instasent.com/platform/en/channels/rcs/acceptable-use/ (HTML) · https://docs.instasent.com/platform/en/channels/rcs/acceptable-use.md (Markdown) **Other language (es):** https://docs.instasent.com/platform/es/channels/rcs/acceptable-use.md RCS runs on Google's network, so every message your RCS agent sends is subject to Google's **Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)** for RCS Business Messaging — on top of any local regulation. The policy is what backs the verified badge next to your brand: an agent that respects it stays verified and keeps delivering; one that breaks it can be suspended, and a registration that looks likely to break it can be rejected. This page summarizes the content Google prohibits and how it affects you as a brand; Google's policy is the source of record, linked at the bottom. ## Why this applies to you When contacts see your brand name and a verification badge inside their messaging app, they trust the message more than a plain SMS — that trust is exactly what Google protects. The AUP is the price of the verified channel: it's checked when your agent is registered and stays in force for as long as your agent is live. So these aren't abstract legal terms — they shape what you can write in a campaign. The practical takeaway for a marketing brand: keep your messages honest and your offers real, and none of the prohibitions below will ever come near you. ## The core rule: don't deceive for financial gain The prohibition that matters most for commercial messaging is deception. In Google's words: > Don't deceive, mislead or confuse users for financial gain or to harm them. Concretely, that rules out the classic scam and fraud patterns, even dressed up as a promotion: - **Fake reviews or opinions** — presenting invented endorsements or ratings as real. - **Get-rich-quick schemes** — promises of fast or guaranteed money for little effort. - **Advance-fee offers** — asking the contact to pay something up front to unlock a prize, a loan, a job or a larger sum. - **Romance scams** — messages that fake a personal or romantic relationship to extract money. - **Fake sweepstakes and prize draws** — telling someone they've won a draw they never entered, or a prize that doesn't exist. - **Investment scams** — false or misleading investment, trading or crypto "opportunities". - **Phishing** — impersonating a person or organization to collect passwords, payment details or other sensitive data. The same rule covers subtler deception: hiding the real cost of an offer, misrepresenting who you are or what you're affiliated with, or pushing the contact to act before they've been told what they're actually agreeing to. If a message would mislead a reasonable person about who's writing, what it costs, or what they get, it's off-limits. ## Other prohibited content Beyond fraud, Google's AUP bans content that is illegal, dangerous or harmful. This is broader than commercial messaging usually needs, but it applies in full: - **Illegal and dangerous activities**, and promoting goods, services or information that cause serious harm. - **Harassment, bullying and threats**, including doxxing. - **Hate speech and incitement to violence** against people based on protected characteristics. - **Sexual content** — explicit sexual material, and any content involving the exploitation of minors (strictly prohibited). - **Violent or graphic content**, and content from or promoting violent organizations. - **Regulated goods** such as tobacco. - **Obscene, profane or vulgar language.** - **Copyright infringement** — sharing protected content without the right to. Business-to-consumer RCS is also **not** the place for political campaign content. ## What happens if you break the rules The AUP isn't only checked once. Two things can follow from a message that breaks it: - **At registration**, a register whose declared use case, content or brand suggests prohibited use can be **rejected**. Keeping your agent honest and on-topic is part of getting approved the first time — see [RCS agent best practices](/platform/en/channels/rcs/agent-best-practices). - **Once live**, an agent that sends prohibited content can be **suspended**, which stops it delivering. Reinstating it means resolving the issue with the operator and Google. > **Tip**: Honest, on-brand marketing never gets near these limits. If you're unsure whether a > specific offer or wording is fine, treat "would this mislead someone about what > they're getting?" as the test — and when in doubt, contact support. ## Google's full policy This page is a practical summary. The authoritative, always-current text — every prohibited category and its exact wording — is Google's own policy: - [Google RCS Business Messaging — Acceptable Use Policy (prohibited content)](https://developers.google.com/business-communications/rcs-business-messaging/terms-and-policies/aup#prohibited_content) If Google updates its policy, that page is what applies. --- This is one page of the Instasent documentation. For the complete machine-readable index of every guide and API reference, fetch https://docs.instasent.com/llms.txt — start there for full context.