> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.digifist.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How consent works > How Galantis records who agreed to which WhatsApp messages, what gives and withdraws consent, and why a stop always wins. Galantis records, for each contact, which kinds of WhatsApp messages they agreed to. Every record is kept: a new decision is added to the contact's history, and an earlier one is never changed or removed. ## Topics Consent is given per topic. A yes to one topic covers that topic only; for example, a back-in-stock sign-up is not consent to marketing. The topics are Marketing, Order updates, Shipping updates, Back in stock, Price drop, Appointments, Review requests and Support. * Marketing means offers, news and promotions. Your campaigns use this topic. * Order updates (order confirmed, refunded or cancelled) do not need a yes. * Shipping updates, back-in-stock alerts, price drops, review requests, appointments and support messages you send first each need their own yes. This includes the built-in Order shipped, Out for delivery and Order delivered messages: they go only to contacts who said yes to Shipping updates, and the Shopify sync does not give that yes. To see a contact's consent, open the contact and go to **Consent**. **Per topic** shows where each topic stands, and **History** lists every record with its source, date and who recorded it. ## What gives consent * Sign-up forms with consent checkboxes. Each ticked box is saved as consent for that topic on WhatsApp, with the form, the date and the exact words the person saw. A box left unticked saves nothing, and a form without consent checkboxes gives no consent. * Back-in-stock sign-ups on a product page. The shopper agrees to hear about that product only, nothing else. Every shopper agrees to the same fixed sentence, which is why you cannot edit it. * The START keyword. When a person sends START or RESUME as their whole message, Galantis records their consent to marketing. It also lifts the stops they made themselves earlier, such as a STOP, but not turning off marketing in WhatsApp. * The automation step "Record consent from their answer". It records the person's consent for the topic you choose only when they tap an option other than the one that means no. A typed reply, a tap on no or no answer records nothing. * Your Shopify store's WhatsApp marketing opt-in. When a customer has opted in to WhatsApp marketing in your store, that opt-in syncs to Galantis as consent to marketing. * An import with your statement. A subscribed cell in the import's consent column counts as consent to WhatsApp marketing only when you tick "I hold the WhatsApp marketing opt-in for every row this import marks as subscribed". Your statement is recorded with your name, the time and the file. The customer's consent remains your responsibility. * A member recording it. After a person agreed outside WhatsApp, a member can record it on the contact with **Record consent**, or while adding a new contact. The member says how and when they agreed and what shows it. Galantis saves it with the member's name and the time; keeping the proof is up to you. ## What stops messages * STOP. When a person sends STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE or UNSUB as their whole message, their marketing messages stop. * STOP ALL. When a person sends STOP ALL or UNSUBSCRIBE ALL as their whole message, every WhatsApp message to them stops, except messages on the Order updates topic, such as an order confirmation, and the one reply that confirms the stop. * Turning off marketing in WhatsApp. If a person turns off marketing messages from your business inside WhatsApp, WhatsApp tells Galantis and their marketing messages stop. The contact's History shows it with the source "WhatsApp messaging control". The messages start again only when the person turns marketing back on in WhatsApp; sending START does not lift this stop. If a marketing message to them fails because of this setting, Galantis also records an opt-out from marketing (source "WhatsApp delivery report"), which a later yes from the person replaces. * A member recording a no. With **Record consent**, a member can record that the person said no to a topic. That topic stops right away. * Your automation's **Record consent** step set to **Revoke permission**. It records a no for the topic you choose (source "Automation"). The keywords work only when they are the whole message; capitals and extra spaces do not matter, so "stop please" is not a stop. The same keywords exist in Dutch, Turkish, French, German and Spanish. ## A stop always wins * No form, import, Shopify sync or member can lift a stop the person made, such as a STOP reply. A consent recorded after their stop is kept in the history but not applied. * Only the person can lift their own stop: a STOP by sending START, a WhatsApp setting by turning marketing back on in WhatsApp. * An import with your statement replaces a person's earlier opt-out, but never a stop. An opt-out made after the import wins over the import. A contact with no consent on record gets no marketing messages. You can still reply when they message you, for 24 hours after each message they send. ## What never gives consent * The chat widget (**WhatsApp chat**) opens WhatsApp and records no consent. * Your Shopify store's e-mail and SMS marketing consent never counts as WhatsApp consent. * Answers to a WhatsApp Flow are saved as answers, not as consent to receive WhatsApp marketing. * A person messaging you is not consent to marketing. ## Exclude from Galantis On a contact's **Consent**, **Exclude from Galantis** stops campaigns, your automations and built-in automations from reaching that contact. Replies from an agent still go through. The person cannot undo your exclusion by sending START. ## Records are kept Consent and opt-out records cannot be changed later, and they stay even when you erase a person. See [Contacts](/galantis/marketing/audience/contacts). This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.