Platform Policies

Facebook Messenger has a variety of platform policies affecting when and how a business can communicate with a platform user. This section reviews the primary policies a business should be concerned about.

For a complete list of Facebook Messenger Policy & Usage Guidelines, check out the Facebook Platform Policy.

24+1 Messaging Policy

Businesses using Facebook Messenger have up to 24 hours to respond to a message sent by a person in Messenger when using standard messaging.

A bot may also send one additional message after the 24-hour time limit has expired.

This is commonly referred to as the 24 + 1 policy.

Note: Starting January 15, 2020, the Facebook policy 24+1 will no longer be available. The new Platform Policy for all messaging will as follows: Businesses will have up to 24 hours to respond to a user. Messages sent within the 24-hour window may contain promotional content. Users have the option to block or mute a conversation with a business at any time.

Responsiveness Policy for Automated Chat Bots

  • Automated bots must respond to any and all input from the user. “Any input” is defined as free form text, quick replies, CTA buttons, and persistent menu clicks. Note that the Get Started (welcome screen) button is specifically excluded from this list.
  • Automated bots that have disabled the composer must still respond to any other available inputs.
  • Automated bots must respond to user input within 30 seconds. This ensures your bot’s experience feels like a continuous conversation.

Page Subscription Messaging

Subscription messages are non-promotional messages sent outside the 24-hour standard messaging window for use cases that may require recurring non-promotional updates.

A Page must apply for and be approved to send subscription messages. Once the Page is approved, any app subscribed to the Page may send subscription messages on the Page’s behalf using the Send API’s NON_PROMOTIONAL_SUBSCRIPTION message tag. All subscription messages must abide by the Messenger Platform’s subscription messaging policy.