WhatsApp is a channel people let you into. Consent is the record of who did.
Three states
Opted in. They agreed to hear from you and can be included in broadcasts.
Opted out. They asked you to stop. They cannot be messaged proactively, and the platform will not let you.
Unknown. Nobody recorded a decision either way. These are excluded from broadcasts, and the number is usually larger than people expect, particularly after importing contacts from elsewhere.
Why unknown is excluded
Because an unrecorded agreement is not an agreement.
Contacts imported from a spreadsheet arrive as unknown. That is correct: whatever consent they gave was given to whatever collected them, and it did not travel with the file.
The fix is to gather consent, not to assume it. A large unknown count means your audience is wider than your permission.
Honouring an opt-out
Immediately and permanently. Somebody who cannot leave will block instead, and a block damages the number for every conversation your business has, not only theirs.
Make leaving easy. An easy opt-out costs you one contact; a block costs you standing.
Why this is enforced rather than advised
Messaging people who did not agree is what lowers a number's quality rating, and a low enough rating suspends it. At that point nobody can be reached, including the customers who did want to hear from you.
The held-contacts list on a broadcast is protecting the channel. It is not an obstacle to route around.
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