India cracks down on spam messages, mandates traceability and stricter regulations

The Indian government has announced a series of measures aimed at curbing the misuse of messaging services, effective from September 1, 2024. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has mandated access service providers to implement stricter regulations and enhance monitoring capabilities to combat spam and fraudulent activities.

Starting September 1, access providers are prohibited from transmitting messages containing URLs, APKs, OTT links, or callback numbers that are not whitelisted by the senders. Furthermore, from November 1, 2024, all messages must be traceable from sender to recipient. Any message with an undefined or mismatched telemarketer chain will be rejected.

"Content templates registered under the wrong category will be blacklisted, and repeated offences will lead to a one-month suspension of the sender’s services," stated the government, highlighting its commitment to enforcing compliance. TRAI has also stipulated that all headers and content templates registered on the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform must adhere to prescribed guidelines.

In cases of misuse, TRAI has directed access providers to immediately suspend traffic from the offending sender's headers and content templates for verification. "The revocation of traffic from the sender shall be done only after legal action is taken by the sender against such misuse," clarified the regulator.

Delivery telemarketers are also required to identify and report entities responsible for misuse within two business days or face similar consequences.

These measures follow a recent directive from the government instructing access providers to cease voice promotional calls from unregistered senders or telemarketers.

Key Highlights

Access providers prohibited from transmitting messages with un-whitelisted URLs, APKs, OTT links, or callback numbers.

Message traceability mandated from November 1, 2024.

Punitive measures introduced for non-compliance, including blacklisting and suspension of services.

Immediate suspension of traffic for misuse of headers or content templates.

Delivery telemarketers required to report entities responsible for misuse within two business days.