This document is CTIA’s May 2023 Messaging Principles and Best Practices, a set of voluntary industry guidelines for the U.S. wireless messaging ecosystem that classifies messages as either Consumer (person-to-person) or Non-Consumer (business/organization-to-person), defines roles within the ecosystem (wireless providers, MVNOs, cloud-based providers, aggregators, etc.), establishes best practices for Non-Consumer messaging including consumer consent requirements (implied, express, and express written consent depending on whether messages are conversational, informational, or promotional), opt-in/opt-out procedures, privacy and security standards, content guidelines prohibiting deceptive or harmful content, and rules around short codes, toll-free numbers, proxy numbers, snowshoe messaging, and grey routes, while also outlining principles for unwanted messaging traffic containment and redress mechanisms.


