Official Business Accounts (OBA)
What is OBA?
An Official Business Account (“OBA”) is a business phone number owned by a business that has been verified as an authentic and notable brand according to specific criteria. Official Business Account business phone numbers have a blue checkmark beside their name in the contacts view.
Eligibility
To be eligible for OBA, the following criteria must be met:
The business must comply with the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy.
The business must be registered on the WhatsApp Business Platform for at least 30 days.
The business represents a notable, well-known, and frequently searched for business, brand, or entity.
The business portfolio that owns the number has been verified through Business Verification.
The business phone number has enabled two-step verification.
The business phone number's display name has been approved.
Notability
Notability requires a business to represent a well-known, often searched brand or entity. This should not be taken as a signal of the authenticity of the business.
Notability, on the other hand, reflects substantial presence in online news articles. Notability is assessed based on an account’s presence in news articles from publications with sizable audiences. Meta does not consider paid or promotional content as sources for review, including business or app listings.
OBA Number status is issued at the business phone number and display name level. Meta assesses notability for the display name of the business phone number that is requesting OBA status. If the display name is changed after receiving OBA Number status, Meta will need to re-assess the new display name for notability and display name compliance.
Additionally, previous OBA status approvals for other business phone numbers owned by a given WhatsApp Business Account do not guarantee approval for all business phone numbers owned by the WABA. If the WABA contains one main parent brand and the phone number associated with that brand meets notability requirements, Meta suggests updating the display names for the child brands as follows: {{sub-brand name}} by {{notable name}}
Requesting OBA via WhatsApp Manager
Visit BM platform, access “WhatsApp Manager”, go to the “Profile” page, and you can submit a request from the OBA area.
Please note that if you cannot click this button, it means you are temporarily unable to apply for OBA.
Click on the Submit Request button and fill out the form.
You can submit up to 5 supporting links especially from renowned publications (e.g., India Today, Economic times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Wikipedia, Business Insider) to show that the business is notable, which helps us determine notability.
Fields like Country(s) of operation, parent business or brand (esp. if it is a well known brand) and Primary language helps us to further understand your brand and eligibility for OBA.
Denied Requests
If your request has been denied, it means Meta team has carefully reviewed your account and determined that it is not eligible for OBA Number status at that time. Currently, these decisions cannot be appealed. You can continue to grow their business presence and wait 30 days before submitting another request. You may also contact InnoPaaS team, as your business solution provider, we are happy to provide you with relevant advice.
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