Guide · Policy · For the owner checking what WhatsApp allows
What a business may not sell or promote on WhatsApp: Meta's restricted list, and where the UAE stands
Meta's WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy lists goods and services a business may not buy, sell or promote on WhatsApp, whatever licences it holds. A few have narrow exceptions in named countries. The UAE is not one of them. Here is the list, the exceptions and what the policy says about asking customers for ID numbers.
Published 6 October 2026 · Updated 9 October 2026
One list for every WhatsApp business
The policy covers the WhatsApp Business app and the WhatsApp Business Platform alike. It prohibits using either to buy, sell, promote or otherwise help exchange the goods and services below, and it says these prohibitions apply irrespective of the global or local licences, registrations or other approvals a business may hold. A local trade licence for a product does not make it allowed on WhatsApp.
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What Meta's list names
- Weapons and hazards
- Firearms, and hazardous goods and materials.
- Alcohol, tobacco and medicine
- Alcohol and tobacco; drugs, whether prescription, recreational or otherwise; and medical and healthcare products.
- Animals and the body
- Endangered wildlife and plants, live animals other than livestock, and body parts or fluids.
- Money
- Real, virtual or fake currency, including coin offerings and binary options; payday loans, paycheck advances, peer-to-peer lending, debt collection and bail bonds; and real money gambling and gaming.
- Everything else on the list
- Adult products and services, dating services, multi-level marketing, and any business model or offer Meta decides is fraudulent, misleading, offensive, deceptive, exploitative or puts undue pressure on the people it targets.
The narrow exceptions
Meta allows messages about three regulated areas, alcohol, over-the-counter medicines, and online gambling and gaming, but only on the WhatsApp Business Platform and never on the WhatsApp Business app. The messages may go only to people in the countries Meta lists for each, never to anyone under 18, and only with every licence the business needs, stopping at once if a licence lapses. Selling those goods inside WhatsApp, through a catalog or any other way of buying in the chat, is not allowed at all.
Online gambling and gaming also needs Meta's permission, through an application with evidence of a licence. Meta says some activities need no permission but must still follow local law: physical casinos, state lotteries run by the business itself, prize promotions where a customer buys a product at its usual price and gambling is not the business's main line, and games that are entirely free to play.
Where the UAE stands
The policy's lists of allowed countries for alcohol, over-the-counter medicines and online gambling do not include the UAE, and none of the other Gulf states appears on them either. On Meta's policy as read, a business cannot use WhatsApp to promote any of the three to customers in the UAE, whichever product it uses and whatever licence it holds. Selling on WhatsApp in general is covered in the catalog guide, and what happens to an account that breaks the rules in the guide to violations and appeals. Clinics and finance businesses have their own guides: the clinic guide and the finance guide.
Questions
Will WhatsApp step in if a customer disputes a refund with us?
No. WhatsApp's Help Center tells customers that businesses are ultimately responsible for their own customer service and that WhatsApp cannot resolve many issues such as order status, transactions, refunds and returns. Customers can still report a business they believe is breaking the Commerce Policy.
Can a hotel or restaurant in the UAE promote alcohol on WhatsApp?
Not under Meta's policy as read. Alcohol is on the prohibited list, the exception covers only the countries Meta names and the UAE is not among them, and the policy says a local licence does not change that. Messages about alcohol are never allowed on the WhatsApp Business app.
Can a pharmacy message customers about medicines?
Drugs of any kind and medical and healthcare products are on the prohibited list. The exception for over-the-counter medicines applies only on the Platform and only in listed countries, which do not include the UAE.
Is a prize draw on WhatsApp gambling?
Meta says a prize promotion where a customer buys a product at its usual retail price needs no permission from Meta, provided gambling is not the business's main line. It must still follow local law.
Can we ask a customer for their ID or card number on WhatsApp?
The policy says not to share or ask people to share full payment card numbers, financial account numbers, personal ID card numbers or other sensitive identifiers.
What happens if a business breaks these rules?
Meta says it may limit or remove access to WhatsApp for business, and that a business whose account is terminated may be barred from all future use of WhatsApp products.
Sources
- Meta's WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy, read 6 October 2026.
- WhatsApp Help Center: About support for customer issues, read 9 October 2026.
More plain-language notes like this one are on the guides page.
Selling on WhatsApp within the rules?
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