A warning is not a block
When Meta finds a policy violation on a WhatsApp Business account, its first step is usually a warning that names the policy that was broken. At that stage the number keeps sending and receiving. The warning is the moment to change what you are doing, before restrictions arrive, and they get longer each time the violation repeats.
Meta’s ladder of penalties
Meta’s policy enforcement page describes what happens to accounts that keep violating. The steps below apply to the WhatsApp Business account, and each one shows up in detail in Business Support Home.
| Step | What is locked | How it ends |
|---|---|---|
| Warning | Nothing yet: the violation is logged | Change the behavior; depending on the type, appeal or acknowledge the violation |
| 1- or 3-day block | Marketing, utility and authentication templates, plus adding numbers to the account | End of the period or an accepted appeal |
| 5-, 7- or 30-day block | Any message, plus adding numbers to the account | End of the period or an accepted appeal |
| Account lock | Any message, with no end date | Only through an appeal |
| Permanent disable | The account leaves the WhatsApp Business Platform | Happens when the business does not change after several warnings and blocks |
According to Meta, these restrictions hit accounts that repeatedly break the terms, with spam, templates in the wrong category or high-risk topics such as adult content, alcohol and tobacco, drugs, gambling and unsafe supplements. In cases of severe harm, such as scams, the account can be offboarded immediately. Too much negative feedback from users can also limit or offboard the business.
Source: WhatsApp Business Platform policy and spam enforcement
The 4 levels InvestCRM shows
InvestCRM learns from Meta itself in two ways: from the account notice (the account_update webhook), which arrives right away, and from a read of the WhatsApp account every 20 minutes, or when you click Atualizar dados (refresh data) under Settings → WhatsApp. The read catches what happened before the connection and Meta’s signal that the number cannot send (the health_status).
| Level | When it lights up | What you see | The number’s broadcasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warning | Violation flagged (ACCOUNT_VIOLATION) or disabling scheduled for a date | Amber bar across the top of every screen and the "Ativo · aviso da Meta" (active, Meta warning) badge under number status | Paused |
| Restricted | Restriction applied (ACCOUNT_RESTRICTION) or account with restricted status | Black bar and the "Restrito" badge | Paused |
| Blocked | Account disabled (DISABLED_UPDATE), account disabled, banned or suspended on the read, a number Meta says cannot send, or a rejected account review | Black bar saying the WhatsApp account is blocked and the "Bloqueado" badge | Paused (a rejected review on its own does not pause) |
| Disconnected | The account is no longer shared with InvestCRM (PARTNER_REMOVED) | Black bar asking you to reconnect and the "Desconectado na Meta" badge | Paused |
Paused means the running or scheduled broadcasts for that number, across every connection on the same WhatsApp account, switch to Paused. No recipient is lost, and you decide when to go back, with the broadcast’s Retomar (resume) button. You can close the bar with the ✕, but it comes back the next time the page loads, for as long as the level lasts.
What the warning bar says
At the Warning level, the amber bar says the WhatsApp number is still active but received a policy alert and may be blocked if this continues, recommends taking a break from sending, and notes that its broadcasts were paused. The amber color is deliberate: it is an alert, not an alarm.
Right after it comes, in parentheses, the violation type in English, exactly as Meta sends it, and the connection name. The type stays in English because that is the term Meta support uses. The Saiba mais (learn more) link goes to the part of the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy about what to do if your account is suspended or terminated.
What to do when the warning arrives
- Do not resume broadcasts the same day. The bar recommends a break from sending: while Meta is looking at the account, more volume is what weighs most.
- Read the violation in Business Support Home. In Meta Business Suite, open All tools and then Business Support Home; the account overview (the speedometer icon) shows the policy broken, examples of what is allowed, whether a restriction is active, what happens on repeat and how to appeal.
- If you think you did not violate anything, ask for a review. Pick the WhatsApp account, the violation and Request Review, with the details. Meta says the decision usually takes 24 to 48 hours and comes back as Unchanged or Reversed. Not every spam violation can be appealed: sometimes you have to wait for the period to end.
- Check who you send to. Only people who asked to receive messages. Before publishing, InvestCRM asks you to tick Confirmo o opt-in (I confirm opt-in), and anyone who typed just SAIR, PARAR, STOP, CANCELAR or DESCADASTRAR is left out of future sends.
- Check your templates. For Meta, a template in the wrong category is a violation too. Utility with a promotion attached is marketing.
- Come back slowly. When you publish or resume a broadcast that sends more than 100 messages on the same day, InvestCRM shows the "Mais de 100 disparos por dia" (over 100 sends a day) notice. It only warns you: the decision is yours.
Source: how to request a review (Appeals), on Meta’s page
Restricted: what may be locked
With a restriction, Meta’s account notice carries the type of lock, when it ends and, when available, what to do to lift it. Among the types Meta documents:
- the business cannot start conversations with customers (RESTRICTED_BIZ_INITIATED_MESSAGING);
- the business cannot reply to conversations the customer started (RESTRICTED_CUSTOMER_INITIATED_MESSAGING);
- new numbers cannot be added to the account (RESTRICTED_ADD_PHONE_NUMBER_ACTION);
- utility templates cannot be created (RESTRICTED_UTILITY_TEMPLATES);
- there are also calling restrictions, for businesses that use WhatsApp calls.
InvestCRM shows the Restricted level and pauses broadcasts, but it does not read the type or the end date of the restriction. Both are in Business Support Home.
Source: account_update webhook, restriction types
Blocked: when the number cannot send
The Blocked level lights up when Meta reports that it disabled the account, when the read finds the account disabled, banned or suspended, when the health_status says the number, the account or the portfolio cannot send messages, or when the account review was rejected. On rejected reviews, Meta’s documentation says the account cannot be used with its APIs.
Source: account_review_update webhook, account review outcome
When blocked, the way out is an appeal in Business Support Home; the account lock, which has no end date, only lifts through an appeal. If Meta reinstates the account, InvestCRM removes the mark on its own but resumes nothing: paused broadcasts wait for you to click Retomar under Broadcasts.
Disconnected: not a penalty
Disconnected means the WhatsApp account is no longer shared with InvestCRM, for example because someone removed its access in Business Manager. It is not a policy decision. To come back, connect the number again under Conexões (connections).
When you reconnect, only that mark goes away. If a warning or a scheduled disabling was underneath it, they show up again: new credentials do not lift a penalty.
The account is yours, and so is the appeal
In InvestCRM, the number comes in through Meta’s Embedded Signup. According to Meta’s documentation, businesses that connect this way own all of their WhatsApp assets: the business portfolio, the WhatsApp Business account and the number. InvestCRM is granted access to them, as a Tech Provider. That is why the violation, the restriction and the review request show up in your portfolio’s Business Support Home, and whoever manages the portfolio is the one who requests the review.
The messaging limit belongs to the portfolio too. It counts how many different people the business delivers messages to outside the customer service window, over a moving 24-hour period, and it is shared by every number in the same portfolio. A new portfolio starts at 250. The limit rises to 2,000 with business verification or with 2,000 delivered messages in 30 days using high-quality templates; above that, Meta raises it automatically for businesses that use at least half of their limit within 7 days with high-quality messages.
And opening another portfolio to escape the penalty is not an appeal. Under the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy (section 7), when Meta terminates an account for violations, it may prohibit the business and its organization from using WhatsApp products in the future.
Source: Embedded Signup: businesses own their assets
Source: Meta messaging limits
What looks like a penalty and is not
- Messaging limit: reaching the portfolio cap is not a violation. InvestCRM shows the tier under Settings → WhatsApp, in Limites de mensagens (messaging limits).
- Declined payment (error 131042): Meta’s charge did not go through; it is not a policy issue. The badge reads "Pagamento bloqueado pela Meta" (payment blocked by Meta), and the steps are in the official API guide.
- Marketing held back (error 131049): Meta did not deliver a marketing message so as not to overload the person. Its guidance is to wait at least 24 hours before sending that person another marketing message (most common errors).
- Phone unlinked from the API, with Coexistence: when someone changes devices or reinstalls WhatsApp Business, Meta unlinks the number from the phone app and, meanwhile, it does not send or receive through InvestCRM. Meta relinks it later; InvestCRM only logs the notice.
How to avoid the next warning
- Ask for opt-in by message type (orders, offers, news), as the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy recommends, and send each type only to people who accepted that type.
- Make it clear how to opt out. In InvestCRM, anyone who types just the opt-out word is unsubscribed; tapping a button does not unsubscribe, so marketing templates have to teach the word.
- Pick the right template category: a notice about something the customer asked for is utility; invitations, offers and news are marketing.
- Respect the pace: the notice about more than 100 messages on the same day is there so you stop and think before publishing.
- WhatsApp broadcast best practices covers the rest of looking after your number.
Source: WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy
Source: Meta template categorization