Messages are not being sent from my sender and I’m getting the EC 7016 EC_SPAM_RATE error code

The Case

You are trying to send a message over WhatsApp but the message is not being sent and you are getting the 7016 EC_SPAM_RATE error indicating message sending failure because there are restrictions on how many messages can be sent from this phone number.

This tends to happen because of 2 reasons:

In general, WhatsApp specifies messaging limits for outbound (business-initiated) conversations, and you can check their messaging limits policy in the Meta for Developers documentation

While the standard messaging limit can be increased, it can also be decreased

Being marked as potential spam is one way of getting your limit decreased, as Meta can lock your business account for 3 days, and in that time you cannot send messages, only receive them. If verified as spam, your WhatsApp Business Account will be disabled. More on this topic in Compliance and guidelines

Steps To Take

Here are WhatsApp’s best practices to maintain high-quality ratings.

Step 1: Make sure your messages and templates follow the WhatsApp Business Policy

Step 2: Send messages to users who have opted in to receiving messages from your business

Step 3: Try avoiding sending open-ended welcome or introductory messages

Step 4: Avoid sending too many messages to customers in a single day

Step 5: Optimize messages for content and length, while providing value with the information contained in the message.

For more information about WhatsApp quality ratings and messaging limitations, you may check the messaging limits article in the Meta for Developers documentation

NOTE

If you are utilizing Infobip API, you can send a simple request to Get quality information of WhatsApp senders