Meta's rules, in plain English

If you've ever wondered "why can't the AI just message customers whenever?" — this is the answer. Meta has strict rules about when and what businesses can send. Jobab follows them.

TL;DR

Customer messages you → you have 24 hours of free conversation to do whatever you want. After that, only WhatsApp templates can reach them (paid, must be pre-approved). Cold DMs are forbidden everywhere.

The shop analogy

Think of Facebook Messenger like a physical shop:

• A customer walks into your shop when they message you
• You can talk freely while they're inside or just left
• After 24 hours, the door closes — you can't shout at them across the street
• You can never walk up to random strangers and pitch (no cold DMs)

That's basically it. The rest is detail.

The four rules

Rule 1 — The customer must talk first

You can't initiate a conversation. Ever. The customer DMs you, then you have permission to reply.

This means Jobab can't be used for cold outreach. It only answers messages that arrive. (For sending "new collection" announcements, see WhatsApp templates below.)

Rule 2 — You have 24 hours of free conversation

Once a customer messages you, a 24-hour timer starts. Inside those 24 hours you can:

• Send unlimited text replies
• Send photos, prices, options
• Take the order
• Send a bKash payment link
• Follow up with questions

Every new message from the customer resets the timer to 24 hours.

This is where 90% of Jobab's work happens. It's free, it's unlimited, no Meta approval needed.

Rule 3 — After 24 hours on Messenger, the door closes (for Bangladesh)

If the customer goes quiet for 24+ hours, you can't message them on Facebook Messenger anymore. Not even "your order shipped." Meta used to allow special "message tags" for transactional updates — they killed those tags globally on February 9, 2026. The replacement (Utility Messages) is in beta in only 4 countries, and Bangladesh is not one of them.

So for "your order shipped" notifications: use WhatsApp, or SMS, or call.

Why this matters for Jobab

Order-update notifications outside the 24-hour window have to go through WhatsApp templates for now. That's why WhatsApp is Phase 2 of the channel plan — not optional.

Rule 4 — WhatsApp has its own door, with a checklist

WhatsApp is more lenient than Messenger, but stricter than it used to be.

Inside the 24-hour window: free, unlimited, just like Messenger.

Outside the 24-hour window: you can send a message, BUT it has to use a template that Meta pre-approved. You write a template once like:

"Hi , your order # has been shipped. Track here: "

Meta reviews the template (usually within a day). Once approved, you can send it to any customer. You pay per message. (Pricing varies — Bangladesh is in the "Rest of Asia Pacific" tier. Numbers change quarterly.)

What this means for Jobab in practice

Customer messages "lal jamdani shari ache?"
    │
    ▼
24-hour timer starts ⏱️
    │
    ▼
AI does all of this FREELY:
    • answers in Bangla
    • shows the product
    • takes the order
    • sends bKash link
    • confirms payment
    • hands off if there's a complaint
    │
    ▼
24 hours later, customer is quiet
    │
    ▼
Time to notify "your order shipped"?
    • Messenger ─► ❌ blocked for Bangladesh
    • WhatsApp template ─► ✅ "order_shipped" template (paid)
    • SMS ─► ✅ always works
    • Phone call ─► ✅ always works

Hard "do not do this" list

The next table is not exaggeration — each of these has gotten apps banned.

What Jobab must NOT do (or Meta will ban us)

Don't	Why
Cold-DM users who never messaged the page	Spam — instant ban
Use the HUMAN_AGENT tag for AI replies	Meta detects misuse — fastest way to lose API access
Send marketing messages on Messenger outside 24h in Bangladesh	Not allowed; only EU/UK/JP/KR/AU can
Send WhatsApp messages outside 24h without an approved template	Account flagged
Send the same template to thousands of cold contacts	Quality rating drops, account restricted
Pretend the AI is a human	Meta policy violation

What Jobab IS allowed to do

Allowed	Where
AI answers in Bangla, takes orders, sends payment links	Inside 24h, all channels
Photo → product matching	Inside 24h, all channels
Merchant takes over and replies manually	Inside 24h normally; 7 days on WhatsApp
"Order shipped" / "delivered" / "payment received" notifications	WhatsApp template, anytime
Reply to a public Facebook comment with a private DM	Up to 7 days after the comment

The Instagram-only rule

Instagram is the same as Messenger with one extra limit: 200 DMs per hour per merchant account. This is shared across every tool the merchant uses (Jobab + any other). Plus comment-triggered DMs are capped at one per user per 24 hours.

For a tiny shop this doesn't matter. For a viral post it does.

Why we built the 24-hour window guard

If a merchant tries to reply to a customer through the inbox after the window closed, Jobab refuses and shows the merchant why. We don't want to silently fail and confuse anyone. The guard lives in apps/backend/src/messenger/messenger.service.ts and returns a clear error.

The inbox UI checks GET /conversations/:id/messaging-window before letting the merchant type, and greys the composer out if the window is closed.

Sources

The rules above come from Meta's docs and recent policy updates. The full chain of evidence is in ship/1-channel-plan.md and ship/2-meta-setup.md.

Next

• See how this shapes the rollout plan: ship/1-channel-plan.md
• Set up your own Meta app and connect a Page: ship/2-meta-setup.md