# Supported countries & restrictions

Before launching in a new market, two questions matter: **can Bird serve recipients there at all**, and **is your content allowed there**? This article explains how both kinds of restriction work and where to find the current, authoritative answers. It's a reference for planning a launch — not a substitute for your own legal review of the markets you operate in.

## Where Bird can and can't serve

Bird delivers to recipients in most of the world, but some regions cannot be served at all:

- **Sanctioned regions.** Bird is subject to international sanctions regimes (including those of the US and EU), which prohibit providing services to certain countries, regions, and individuals. Sending to sanctioned destinations is blocked at the platform level — this isn't a setting you can change.
- **Legally restricted regions.** A small number of additional markets are restricted because local law makes compliant delivery impossible or because Bird has no lawful route to recipients there.

Sanctions lists change, and so does the set of restricted markets. **Don't rely on a snapshot** — before committing to a new market, confirm the current status with Bird support or your account team, who maintain the authoritative list.

## Content restricted by market

Even in fully supported countries, some content categories are restricted or prohibited — by local law, by carrier and mailbox-provider rules, or by Bird's own policy. Common examples of categories that are regulated differently per market:

- Gambling and betting
- Alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis
- Pharmaceuticals and health claims
- Financial services, credit offers, and cryptocurrency
- Adult content
- Political and religious messaging

A category that's fine in one country may require licensing in a second and be flat-out prohibited in a third. Content that violates [Bird's Acceptable Use Policy](https://bird.com/legal/acceptable-use-policy) — spam, phishing, malware, harassment, illegal content — is prohibited everywhere, regardless of market.

If your business operates in a regulated category, raise it with Bird support before launching: it's far cheaper to confirm up front than to have sending paused mid-campaign.

## Data residency: pick your region up front

Where Bird _delivers_ is separate from where your _data lives_. Every Bird organization is pinned to one data residency region at signup — `us1` (United States) or `eu1` (European Union) — and all of its data is stored and processed in that region, never replicated across regions. You can send to recipients worldwide from either region; residency governs your data, not your audience.

The assignment is immutable, so choose deliberately: if your compliance posture requires EU residency (common for GDPR-driven processing), sign up in `eu1`. See [Base URLs & regions](/docs/api/regions) for how the region model works at the API level.

## Launch checklist for a new market

1. Confirm the destination isn't sanctioned or restricted — ask Bird support for the current list.
2. Check whether your content category is regulated in that market.
3. Review the consent rules that apply to recipients there — for email, start with [list consent & CAN-SPAM](/docs/knowledge-base/compliance/email/consent).
4. Make sure your sending complies with the [Acceptable Use Policy](https://bird.com/legal/acceptable-use-policy) — it applies in every market.

## Next steps

- [Acceptable use summary](/docs/knowledge-base/policies/acceptable-use) — plain-language guide to what can't be sent anywhere
- [Base URLs & regions](/docs/api/regions) — the `us1`/`eu1` region model for developers