WhatsApp error 130472: User's number is part of an experiment

Code 130472 is one of the stranger errors in the reference because nothing you did caused it. Meta runs marketing message experiments in which a slice of WhatsApp users is deliberately held out from receiving marketing template messages so that Meta can measure the incremental effect of those messages. When you try to send a marketing template to a user in the holdout group, the send is refused with 130472 and the message is not delivered or billed.

The error only affects marketing-category templates. Utility, authentication, and service messages to the same person go through normally. It is also per recipient and tied to the experiment's duration, so the same number will accept marketing again once the experiment ends.

There is nothing wrong with your template, your account, or the recipient's WhatsApp installation. Retrying immediately will produce the same response.

Build campaign reporting that treats 130472 as a distinct outcome rather than a failure, so metrics and retries behave correctly. Keep transactional content in utility templates, which are unaffected. Because this comes from Meta's side, there is no configuration to change on yours; the goal is to stop it from triggering alerts or retry loops. Because it arrives in the statuses webhook like other delivery-time failures, correct webhook handling matters - see the webhook debugging guide - and compare 131049, Meta's other deliberate marketing drop.