Christmas is approaching, and with it, the hottest retail season. This year, one player is gaining even more strength as the main battleground for sales: WhatsApp. According to a specialized report produced in partnership with Opinion Box, the channel remains the primary means of contact between consumers and brands in Brazil. The study shows that 30% of Brazilians already use the app to make purchases, while 33% prefer it for after-sales service, surpassing traditional channels like email and phone.
“For years, WhatsApp was just a messaging app. Today, it is the busiest counter of Brazilian digital retail,” says Alberto Filho, CEO of Poli Digital, a Goiás-based company that works with official WhatsApp communication solutions.
Thus, the pressure to beat the competition and achieve quick results during this time of year leads many companies to adopt practices that violate the policies of Meta, WhatsApp's parent company. The result? One of the biggest nightmares for any modern business: having the account banned.
“Understanding how the system works and what its limits are is important to ensure that the main sales showcase doesn't close its doors right in the middle of Christmas week,” explains Mariana Magre, a WhatsApp service specialist and Customer Success Manager at Poli Digital.
She explains that the meteoric growth of WhatsApp Business has brought opportunities and risks. The more essential the channel becomes, the greater the impact of its misuse. “The expansion attracted not only legitimate businesses but also spammers and scammers, which led Meta to tighten surveillance over suspicious behaviors,” she explains.
Meta Platforms announced that between January and June 2025, over 6.8 million WhatsApp accounts were banned, many of them associated with fraud operations, as part of a broader effort to crack down on criminals abusing its messaging services.
“Meta's system analyzes behavioral patterns to identify spam-like activities. Warning signs include sending an abnormal volume of messages in a short time, a high rate of blocks and reports, and blasting messages to contacts who have never interacted with the brand.”.
The consequences vary. A temporary block can last hours or days, but a permanent ban is devastating: the number becomes unusable, the entire chat history is lost, and contact with customers is immediately severed.
However, the Poli Digital expert details that most blocks occur due to technical unawareness. The most common violations involve using unofficial versions of WhatsApp, such as GB, Aero, and Plus, and mass messaging via “pirate” APIs. These tools are not approved by Meta and are easily tracked by security algorithms, leading to almost certain bans.
Another serious mistake is purchasing contact lists and sending messages to people who have not authorized receipt (without opt-in). Besides violating the platform's rules, this practice drastically increases spam report rates.
The absence of a structured communication strategy worsens the scenario: excessively sending irrelevant promotions and disrespecting WhatsApp's commercial policies compromise the so-called Quality Rating, an internal metric that measures the account's “health.” “Ignoring this rating and insisting on bad practices is the shortest path to a permanent block,” reinforces Mariana.
To operate safely, it is essential to understand the differences between the app versions:
- WhatsApp Personal: intended for individual use.
- WhatsApp Business: free, recommended for small businesses, but with limitations.
- WhatsApp Business Official API: corporate solution that allows automation, multiple agents, CRM integration, and, above all, security at scale.
The “secret sauce” lies in this last one. The Official API operates within Meta's parameters, with pre-approved message templates, mandatory opt-in, and native protection mechanisms. Furthermore, it ensures all communication follows the required quality and consent standards.
“At Poli Digital, we help companies make this transition safely, centralizing everything on a platform that integrates the WhatsApp Business Official API with CRM. This eliminates the risk of blocks and keeps the operation compliant,” explains Mariana.
An emblematic example is Buzzlead, a company that uses WhatsApp on a large scale for notifications and engagement. Before migration, using unofficial broadcast tools caused recurring blocks and message loss. “When we started sending large volumes, we faced phone number blocking issues. It was through Poli that we learned about the WhatsApp Official API and managed to solve everything,” says José Leonardo, Director of Buzzlead.
The change was decisive. With the official solution, the company began operating without physical devices, using approved templates and drastically reducing the risk of banning. “The results improved significantly, with higher read rates and better notification delivery,” adds the executive.
Mariana summarizes the central point: “Migrating to the Official API is not just a tool swap; it's a mindset change. Poli's platform organizes the flows, ensures rule compliance, and monitors account quality in real-time. The result is peace of mind to focus on what really matters: selling and building customer relationships, especially at Christmas.”.
“And if Christmas is the peak of sales, security and compliance become the real gift for those who want to continue growing in 2025,” concludes Alberto Filho.
