What is Snowshoeing in SMS?
Last reviewed by Moderation API
Snowshoeing is a way to get past carrier spam filters. Instead of sending a large campaign from one number, the sender spreads it across many numbers, and sometimes across several brands or campaigns. Each number sends only a little, the way a snowshoe spreads weight so it does not sink.
Carriers and the CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices treat snowshoeing as filter evasion. Carrier codes of conduct prohibit it, and it can lead to fines and to suspended campaigns and numbers.
How it is detected
A per-message filter cannot see snowshoeing, because each message on its own looks normal. Detection has to look across the traffic: the same or nearly the same content on many numbers, brands or campaigns at once, often with small changes to the wording or links to avoid exact matches.
Snowshoeing often comes with other evasion tricks, such as look-alike letters and URL shorteners. That is why checks on content and checks across numbers work best together.
Moderation API’s 10DLC compliance add-on checks every message against the campaign it was sent under.
