Blacklist

Suppress specific numbers from receiving messages, grouped into categories you can manage individually or in bulk.

A blacklist stops messages reaching numbers you have chosen to suppress — customers who have opted out, complainants, known bad numbers, or internal test lines you do not want included in a live campaign.

Blacklisted numbers are organised into categories. A category groups numbers under one purpose and can be switched off without deleting its contents, so you can suspend a suppression rule temporarily rather than rebuilding the list later.

Blacklisting is a suppression list you control. It is separate from channel-level opt-out, which is driven by the recipient sending a keyword — see WhatsApp opt-in / opt-out and RCS opt-in / opt-out.

Categories

Add a category

1. Open the Blacklist Category tab

   In the left pane, click Config, select the Blacklist Category tab, and click + Add Blacklist.

2. Enter the details

   Field	Description
   Channel	The channel this blacklist applies to
   Category Name	A name for the group
   Category Status	Whether the category is active and in use
   Category Description	A short description of what the category is for

3. Add

   Click Add.

Categories are bound to a channel. A number blacklisted under an SMS category is not suppressed on WhatsApp or RCS — add it to a category on each channel you want it blocked on.

View categories

Click Config, select the Blacklist Category tab, then click Show Blacklist. The list shows each category’s name, total numbers, description, and status.

Blacklist categories

Numbers

Add a number

1. Open the Blacklist Number tab

   Click Config, select the Blacklist Number tab, and click + Add Blacklist Number.

2. Enter the details

   Field	Description
   Category	The category to add this number to
   Name	The name of the person the number belongs to
   Number	The number to suppress
   Description	A short note about why

3. Add

   Click Add.

Fill in the Description. Six months on, a suppression list with no reasons attached is one nobody is willing to prune — and an over-broad blacklist quietly suppresses traffic you intended to send.

Upload numbers in bulk

1. Open the upload view

   Click Config, select the Blacklist Number tab, then click Upload Blacklist Number.

2. Get the format right

   Use Download Sample File to get a correctly formatted file before preparing your own.

3. Choose your file

   Click Choose File and select the file to upload.

4. Select the category

   Choose the Category the numbers should be added to.

5. Upload

   Click Add Records to Category.

Download numbers

1. Open the download view

   Click Config, select the Blacklist Number tab, then click Download Blacklist Number.

2. Choose what to export

   Select the Category and the File Type from the dropdowns.

3. Download

   Click Download.

Find and remove numbers

On the Blacklist Number tab, select a category and optionally enter a number, set a record limit, and click Search.

To remove entries, use Delete Selected for specific numbers, or Delete All to clear the results.

Delete All clears every number matching the current filter, not just the rows on screen. Check the filter before using it — and export the category first if you might need it back.

Related

• Platform overview
• Phonebook