Part 12 — Trust & Safety
Acceptable Use Policy
A clear set of rules about what you may not do on LinkStacked — and what happens when you cross the line.
Scope
This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") applies to everyone who uses LinkStacked — account holders, visitors browsing public profiles, automated scripts, API clients, and any third party interacting with the platform or its infrastructure.
It supplements the main Terms of Service. Any activity not explicitly permitted is prohibited if it harms the platform, its users, or third parties.
Scraping, crawling & data mining
You may not:
- Use automated scripts, bots, crawlers, spiders, or scrapers to harvest profile data, link URLs, email addresses, usernames, or any other data from the platform
- Perform systematic or bulk downloads of public profile pages for data aggregation purposes
- Use third-party scraping services or tools (including headless browsers, Puppeteer, Playwright, etc.) to extract platform data at scale
- Mirror, cache, or reproduce LinkStacked content on another website or database without written permission
- Use data obtained through scraping to train machine learning models, feed competitive intelligence tools, or build derivative products
- Bypass, circumvent, or ignore robots.txt directives, rate limits, or IP-based access controls
- Disguise automated requests as human traffic (e.g. spoofing user-agent headers, rotating IPs to evade rate limits)
What is permitted
The following automated access is permitted:
- Search engine crawlers following robots.txt permissions (read robots.txt at /robots.txt)
- Accessibility tools operated by end users for their own profile access
- Authorised API access under a written developer agreement with Devpitch UG
Malicious, harmful & fraudulent links
Every URL submitted to LinkStacked is checked against Google Safe Browsing before being stored. We actively re-scan live links and will remove or block links that are found to be harmful. You may not add links that:
- Lead to malware, ransomware, spyware, adware, or any software designed to harm a device or steal data
- Direct visitors to phishing pages — sites designed to steal login credentials, payment data, or personal information
- Redirect through multiple layers to obscure the final destination or to evade link-safety checks
- Lead to sites that distribute pirated software, cracked tools, or content that violates copyright
- Contain or link to counterfeit products, fraudulent investment schemes, or advance-fee fraud (419 scams)
- Point to illegal online pharmacies, unlicensed gambling platforms, or sites that facilitate illegal firearms or drug sales
- Lead to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) — this results in immediate permanent termination and mandatory reporting to authorities
- Use URL shorteners, redirect chains, or link cloaking to disguise the true destination of a link
- Are designed to deceive — e.g. presenting a link as leading to a legitimate service while directing visitors elsewhere
Impersonation & identity fraud
LinkStacked is an identity platform — authenticity is fundamental. You may not:
- Create a profile that falsely claims to be, or is designed to be mistaken for, another person, public figure, brand, or organisation
- Use another person's name, profile photo, or identifying information to create a fake account
- Misrepresent your affiliation with a person, organisation, government body, or platform
- Register usernames, custom domains, or profile URLs that are confusingly similar to an existing brand or creator for the purpose of diverting their traffic
- Create accounts designed to deceive fans or customers of a brand or creator
- Impersonate LinkStacked staff, support agents, or official accounts in any communication or profile
- Create multiple fake personas to manipulate platform engagement, reviews, or social proof
What is permitted
- Fan accounts and parody accounts are permitted if they are clearly and prominently labelled as such in the username, display name, or bio
- Roleplay, fictional personas, and pseudonyms are permitted as long as they do not impersonate real identifiable people
Fraud, deception & financial abuse
You may not use LinkStacked to:
- Operate any fraudulent scheme, including pyramid schemes, Ponzi schemes, advance-fee fraud, or multi-level marketing with deceptive claims
- Falsely represent the nature, value, or deliverable of a product to induce a purchase
- Operate fake charity or fundraising campaigns — all charitable fundraising must identify the registered charity
- Solicit tips or donations under false pretences (e.g. fabricated emergencies, manufactured hardship)
- Manipulate reviews, testimonials, or social proof through fake accounts or purchased engagement
- Launder money or use the platform's payment infrastructure for financial crimes
- Use stolen payment credentials to purchase products or subscriptions
- Conduct coordinated fraud operations using multiple accounts
Spam & inauthentic activity
- Do not send unsolicited commercial messages to other users, creators, or platform contacts
- Do not create profiles solely to redirect visitors to spam, affiliate farms, or low-quality link aggregators
- Do not artificially inflate your profile's view count or analytics using bots, click farms, or traffic manipulation services
- Do not use the platform's email capture features to build email lists without consent or to send spam
- Do not create large numbers of accounts (sockpuppets) to manipulate any platform metric
- Do not create or share referral codes, affiliate links, or promo codes obtained through account fraud
Platform abuse
- Do not interfere with, degrade, or disrupt the platform's infrastructure, servers, or network
- Do not conduct denial-of-service (DoS) or distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against LinkStacked or its users
- Do not attempt to gain unauthorised access to other users' accounts, admin panels, or restricted areas
- Do not exploit platform bugs or vulnerabilities for unauthorised access — report them responsibly to security@linkstacked.com
- Do not use the platform to test attacks against other systems
- Do not reverse-engineer the platform's API, authentication flows, or rate-limiting systems
- Do not exceed API rate limits or deliberately trigger rate-limit errors to degrade service for others
Prohibited content
The following content may not appear on any LinkStacked profile, product, or link:
- Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) — immediate permanent termination and mandatory law enforcement reporting (no exceptions)
- Content that facilitates, promotes, or glorifies real-world violence, terrorism, or genocide
- Hate speech targeting individuals or groups based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or immigration status
- Content that facilitates illegal surveillance, stalking, or doxxing of private individuals
- Detailed instructions for making weapons of mass destruction, improvised explosives, or illegal firearms modifications
- Non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII/revenge porn) — any content of a sexual or intimate nature posted without the subject's consent
- Content that encourages or provides methods for self-harm or suicide to at-risk individuals
Technical abuse & infrastructure misuse
- Do not use the platform as an intermediary to attack or probe other networks or services
- Do not embed iframes, scripts, or external resources on your profile that load content from prohibited sources
- Do not use custom CSS injection features to display deceptive or harmful content
- Do not attempt to bypass the 5-minute signed URL expiry for private product downloads
- Do not share, sell, or transfer your signed download URLs to non-purchasers
- Do not manipulate your profile's structured data or metadata to deceive search engines or social sharing previews
Enforcement & penalty framework
LinkStacked applies a graduated enforcement framework calibrated to the severity and history of each violation. We reserve the right to skip tiers for severe violations. All enforcement decisions are made by our trust and safety team, not by automated systems alone.
First-time minor violation (spam link, misleading description, minor impersonation)
Account notice issued. Offending content removed. Creator asked to resolve within 48 hours.
Repeat minor violation or medium-severity violation (persistent spam, moderate scraping, unresolved impersonation)
Feature restriction applied (e.g. commerce suspended, link count capped, new links quarantined for review). Creator may appeal.
Serious violation (deliberate data scraping, fraudulent fundraising, significant malicious link use, coordinated fake accounts)
Account suspended for 7–30 days. All public content unpublished. Pending payouts held. Creator may appeal after 7 days.
Severe or repeated serious violation (persistent scraping, large-scale fraud, confirmed impersonation campaign, repeated malicious links)
Account permanently terminated. All content deleted. Outstanding payouts may be forfeited. No appeal available for category-A violations.
Criminal violations (CSAM, active malware distribution, large-scale financial fraud, targeted harassment, DDoS attacks)
Immediate termination, mandatory reporting to law enforcement (§203 StGB, BKA, Europol as applicable), civil and criminal proceedings under German law.
Reporting violations
You can report a violation using the Report button on any public profile or link. For serious violations (CSAM, active malware, imminent danger), email safety@linkstacked.com with the subject line "URGENT".
For full reporting guidance, see our Reporting & Moderation page.
Questions about this policy?
Contact our legal team at legal@linkstacked.com or privacy@linkstacked.com for data matters. We respond within 5 business days.