Messenger error 368: Temporarily blocked for policies violations

Code 368 means Meta has placed a temporary block on the acting entity, your Page, app or the user behind the token, because automated systems or reviewers flagged behavior as violating platform policies. The error-handling guide's laconic advice is "wait and retry the operation," which is accurate but incomplete: the block lifts on its own, yet if the flagged behavior resumes, the next block is typically longer, and repeated offenses escalate toward feature removal or the permanent restrictions that surface as messaging being disabled entirely.

On Messenger, 368 usually follows one of a few patterns. Volume that looks like spam: identical messages to many recipients in a short burst, especially messages with links. Message-tag misuse, promotional content smuggled through what remains of the tag system, which also announces itself via the explicit warning on 613/2018338. High negative feedback: people blocking the Page, reporting messages, or deleting the conversation shortly after your sends. And content triggers, link domains with bad reputations or text matching scam patterns.

Treat 368 as a different species from rate limiting. Codes 4, 613 and friends meter how often you call; 368 judges what the calls are doing. Backoff alone therefore does not fix it, the same behavior slower is still the same behavior. While blocked, sends fail hard; there is no partial delivery.

What is NOT wrong: your token, review status and code path, all of which were evaluated before the policy gate. Check Page-level health too: a restriction on the Page itself shows in Meta Business Suite under Page Quality, along with any appeal options. Related policy-tier errors in this catalogue are 2022 (commerce messaging disabled after a violation) and 10/1404170 (Page restricted from marketing-message opt-in requests).

{
  "error": {
    "message": "(#368) The action attempted has been deemed abusive or is otherwise disallowed",
    "type": "OAuthException",
    "code": 368,
    "fbtrace_id": "Fz54k3GZrio"
  }
}

Design sending behavior that never resembles spam: personalize broadcasts, cap frequency per recipient, suppress unengaged contacts, and keep promotional content inside the 24-hour window where it is allowed. Watch block and report rates as first-class metrics, they are Meta's inputs too. Respect the boundaries in the tag rules strictly; tags are the most-watched surface. If a human-review workflow exists for your outbound campaigns, route new templates through it before they reach your Messenger bot's audience.