WhatsApp Marketing Rules in Israel: What the Spam Law, the Privacy Protection Authority and Meta Require

Short answer: Israel's anti-spam rule, section 30A of the Communications Law (Telecommunications and Broadcasts), 1982, known as chok ha-spam, forbids sending an advertisement by electronic message, SMS, fax or automatic dialler without the recipient's explicit prior consent, subject to two narrow exceptions. Each advertisement must identify the sender and offer a way to refuse further messages, and for SMS the word פרסומת ("advertisement") belongs at the start. A recipient can claim up to ₪1,000 per message without proving any damage, and the Supreme Court has said that ceiling is the starting point. The statute predates WhatsApp and does not name it, but Israeli courts have examined WhatsApp advertisements under section 30A, and businesses should treat it as applying. Personal data is separately governed by the Privacy Protection Law, strengthened by Amendment 13 in August 2025. This is general information, not legal advice; for a specific campaign, ask an Israeli lawyer.

Four sets of rules, and which ones cover WhatsApp

An Israeli business planning a WhatsApp campaign deals with four overlapping regimes. They were written for different channels, so it helps to be precise about which one does what.

The spam law in brief

Section 30A was added to the Communications Law by Amendment 40 and came into force on 1 December 2008. Meitar's summary for clients at the time set out the structure that still governs today:

• The general rule is opt-in. An advertiser may not send a commercial message without the recipient's explicit, advance consent, and the recipient may withdraw it at any time.
• "Advertisement" is broad. It covers any commercial message whose aim is to encourage buying a product or service or spending money in another way. Later amendments widened it to messages soliciting donations or carrying propaganda to the public (Amendment 63, 2016) and to messages inviting the recipient to call a number (Amendment 72, 2018).
• "Advertiser" is broad too. It includes the business whose name or contact details appear, the business whose interests the message promotes, and anyone who sends it on their behalf. Using an agency or a platform does not move the liability away from you.
• Officers can be personally liable, and the law requires them to take steps to prevent violations.

The two exceptions

Consent is not required in only two cases:

1. A one-time offer to a business (not a private person) asking whether it agrees to receive advertisements.
2. An existing customer relationship, if all three conditions hold: the customer gave their contact details while buying or negotiating to buy, and was told the details would be used for advertising; they were given a chance to refuse; and the advertisement is for products or services similar to what they bought or discussed.

The second exception is narrow. A clinic patient who left a number to book laser treatment may, if told at the time, receive offers for similar treatments. The same number does not cover offers from a sister business, and it does not survive a refusal. Since Amendment 66 (2018), ending a continuing transaction, such as cancelling a subscription, counts as a refusal to receive advertisements.

What each advertisement must contain

• The word פרסומת. For SMS and automated calls it should appear at the beginning of the message. For WhatsApp, the cautious course that Israeli practitioners recommend is the same: open with "פרסומת:".
• Who you are. The advertiser's name and contact details.
• A way to refuse. A clear instruction for removal that works the first time, such as "להסרה השיבו STOP", or an opt-out button.

Does the spam law apply to WhatsApp?

The statute names fax, automatic dialling, "electronic message" and SMS; it was written before WhatsApp existed and never mentions an app. Israeli commentary is consistent that WhatsApp advertising is treated as covered, but most of it does not cite a specific ruling, so we looked for one.

The clearest recent example we found is Jamo v. Gesham LaMishtaken (Tel Aviv-Jaffa District Court, class action 51080-02-23, judgment of 28 November 2024, Judge Limor Bibi). A real estate developer had sent a lawyer two marketing SMS messages and, months after he asked to be removed, a third advertisement through WhatsApp. The applicant sought class certification under section 30A for messages sent by both SMS and WhatsApp. The court examined the WhatsApp message as an alleged section 30A breach and did not suggest WhatsApp was outside the law. It refused certification on the facts: the developer showed that the WhatsApp message was a one-off human error by a temporary employee who used the wrong list, and that its landing pages collected consent with a checkbox agreeing to be contacted by SMS, WhatsApp, email or a return call about its projects.

Two practical lessons follow. First, a consent form that names WhatsApp explicitly, with a record of who ticked it, was what protected this business. Second, a removal request on one channel must reach every channel and every list you send from. That is exactly where the developer went wrong.

What a claim costs: damages, class actions and fines

Do the arithmetic for a WhatsApp campaign. A broadcast to 3,000 people without valid consent is, in theory, 3,000 potential claims of up to ₪1,000 each. Even if only a handful of recipients sue, and courts award far less than the ceiling, the cost of a single careless campaign can exceed years of Meta fees: 3,000 marketing messages to Israeli numbers cost Meta's sender about $105.90 (3,000 × $0.0353). The Israel pricing guide has the full rate card.

The Privacy Protection Law after Amendment 13

Separately from the spam law, everything you hold about customers falls under the Privacy Protection Law, 1981. Amendment 13 was approved by the Knesset in August 2024 and entered into force in August 2025 (most sources give 14 August 2025). It is the biggest change to Israeli privacy law in decades:

• Broader definitions. The old split between "information" and "personal data" is gone; a phone number on its own is now plainly protected personal data.
• Real financial sanctions. The Privacy Protection Authority (הרשות להגנת הפרטיות) can impose administrative fines. Meitar describes sanctions of up to ₪320,000 for various violations, and Gornitzky notes they scale with the number of data subjects and the size of the organisation and can reach millions of shekels in some cases.
• Investigations and audits. The Authority's investigators have statutory powers and it has announced cross-sector audits for 2026.
• Less registration, more accountability. Most databases no longer need registration; it remains for public bodies and for databases used for direct mailing services to others above 10,000 people. Direct mailing service providers and organisations that process personal data extensively must appoint a Privacy Protection Officer.

For a WhatsApp programme this means: collect only what you need, keep the consent record and source for every number, secure your exports, and never pass your list to another company. If you buy a list, you are buying someone else's privacy problem as well as a spam-law one.

WhatsApp calls and the Do Not Call registry

Israel's Do Not Call registry (מאגר "אל תתקשר אליי") was created by Amendment 61 to the Consumer Protection Law and has applied since 1 January 2023. It covers marketing calls, defined as a call to a consumer's phone number to promote a transaction. IAPP reported a fine of ₪46,080 per violating call, raised by half in aggravated circumstances, and noted that the definition includes calls made by electronic communication and may extend to calls through apps such as WhatsApp. If you use WhatsApp calling for outbound sales, check numbers against the registry as you would for ordinary telemarketing. Inbound calls that customers place to you are not marketing calls.

Sending hours: what the law says and what customers expect

We found no Israeli statute that sets permitted hours for WhatsApp marketing. Practice matters more than law here. Many Israeli customers keep Shabbat, from Friday before sunset to Saturday after nightfall, and a promotion that arrives then is the kind that gets reported. On Yom Kippur, Holocaust Remembrance Day and Memorial Day, promotional messages read as tone-deaf at best. Our Israel campaign calendar lists the dates and suggested windows. In QuickWA you can set a sending window in Settings; scheduled broadcasts outside it wait until it reopens. It is not on by default, so set it before your first campaign.

Meta's own rules

Meta's WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy, last updated 23 September 2026, adds platform rules that Meta enforces directly:

• Opt-in first. You may contact people only if they gave you their number and you received their opt-in confirming they want messages from you. You alone are responsible for the opt-in method and for complying with local law.
• Honour every opt-out. You must respect all requests, on or off WhatsApp, to block, stop or opt out.
• No surprises. Do not confuse, deceive, mislead, spam or surprise people.
• Feedback limits you. Meta may limit how many messages a business can send based on user feedback, and may restrict or remove businesses that get significant negative feedback.

Template categories matter here too. A message that promotes anything is marketing, both for Meta's pricing ($0.0353 to an Israeli number) and, in practice, for the spam law. A delivery update that slips in a discount code becomes an advertisement in both senses.

A practical checklist for Israeli businesses

1. Collect consent that names WhatsApp. An unticked checkbox, for example: אני מאשר/ת לקבל מ[שם העסק] הודעות פרסומיות ועדכונים בוואטסאפ. אפשר להסיר בכל עת. ("I agree to receive advertising messages and updates from [business] on WhatsApp. You can unsubscribe at any time.")
2. Record it. Date, time, source (form, checkout, in-store tablet) and the exact wording shown. QuickWA stores consent status on each contact.
3. Do not rely on the existing-customer exception by default. If you do, make sure the customer was told at the point of sale, could refuse, and only receives offers similar to what they bought.
4. Start marketing templates with "פרסומת:", include the business name, and end with a removal instruction.
5. Make removal instant and global. QuickWA's automatic opt-out handles English keywords such as STOP and UNSUBSCRIBE; replies like הסר or "תורידו אותי" must be handled by your team the same day, on every list and number.
6. Keep utility messages clean. No offers inside order confirmations or reminders.
7. Never upload bought, shared or scraped lists, including leads from a property portal or a partner business.
8. Set a sending window and plan around Shabbat and national days of mourning.
9. Check WhatsApp marketing calls against the Do Not Call registry.
10. Keep evidence for at least as long as a claim is possible, and ask counsel how long that is for your business.

None of this makes a campaign compliant by itself; it depends on how you collect consent and what you send. For the platform side see the QuickWA Israel page, and for setup the Israel setup guide.

Sources

• Meitar, "New Israeli 'Spam' Law Goes Into Effect December 1" (25 November 2008): scope, consent, exceptions, content requirements, damages and fines: meitar.com (checked 26 Oct 2026)
• Hebrew Wikipedia, חוק הספאם (Supreme Court rulings in Glasberg and Hazani, 2014; Amendments 63, 66 and 72): he.wikipedia.org (checked 26 Oct 2026)
• Tel Aviv-Jaffa District Court, Jamo v. Gesham LaMishtaken Ltd, class action 51080-02-23, judgment of 28 November 2024: law.co.il (checked 26 Oct 2026)
• Bizportal, Haifa small-claims ruling of ₪250 per message (28 September 2026): bizportal.co.il (checked 26 Oct 2026)
• Pearl Cohen, Haifa class action of about ₪200 million (1 December 2019): pearlcohen.com (checked 26 Oct 2026)
• Meitar, Amendment 13 to the Privacy Protection Law (7 August 2024): meitar.com; Digital Policy Alert, entry into force on 14 August 2025: digitalpolicyalert.org; Gornitzky, enforcement update (28 January 2026): gornitzky.com (all checked 26 Oct 2026)
• IAPP, "Israel tightens marketing rules with a Do Not Call registry" (6 July 2022): iapp.org (checked 26 Oct 2026)
• WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy (last updated 23 September 2026): whatsappbusiness.com (checked 26 Oct 2026)
• Meta, pricing and template categories: developers.facebook.com (checked 26 Oct 2026)