Documents

Acceptable Use Policy

Last Update 5/15/2024

Welcome to the beehiiv community! We're thrilled to have you here. This Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is designed to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations, prevent abuse of our Services, and protect the interests of both our customers and their contacts, as well as our goodwill and reputation. By using any of beehiiv’s Services you are agreeing to the terms of this AUP. We appreciate your consideration and look forward to creating a safe, respectful, and responsible environment for everyone.

Platform Requirements

As part of our commitment to maintaining a secure and trustworthy ecosystem, our platform has certain requirements that users must adhere to. These platform requirements are essential for ensuring the integrity of our services and the protection of our mutual reputation. By following these requirements, you help us maintain a high standard of performance, security, and compliance.

Address Collection and Contact Lists - To safeguard the integrity of our email Services and respect the privacy of recipients, we require users to obtain affirmative consent (opt-in) from all recipients before sending any emails. This consent must be informed and unambiguous, meaning recipients must fully understand what they are consenting to and freely agree to receive communications. (e.g., blanket consents; consents provided on behalf of a third party; purchased, rented, scraped, or borrowed lists that have not explicitly consented to receive communications from your business are strictly prohibited);
Unsubscribing - Recipients must be informed about how to withdraw their consent at any time. Commercial emails sent through the beehiiv platform allow for a clear opt-out mechanism for receiving future messages. Compliance is provided through an opt-out link in the footer of each email. This link is not to be removed, obfuscated, or manipulated in any way. Use of unauthorized external unsubscribe processes is prohibited. If there is an opt-out menu or preference center offered, one menu option must allow for a complete opt-out of all messages;
Sender Identification - All commercial emails must include a valid physical postal address. This can be your current street address, a post office box you’ve registered with the U.S. Postal Service, or a private mailbox you’ve registered with a commercial mail-receiving agency established under Postal Service regulations or at this time our default beehiiv address;
Deceptive Subject Lines - Senders must include a clear non-deceptive subject line, which accurately describes the content and purpose of the email. Providing misleading or deceptive information in a subject line simply to prompt recipients to open an email is prohibited;
False or Misleading Header Information - beehiiv prohibits the transmission of commercial e-mail messages or transactional messages that contain materially false or misleading header information. Header information (i.e., the “From,” “To,” “Reply To,” along with routing information, including the originating domain name and email address) must be accurate and must clearly identify the person who initiated the message.

Prohibited Behavior

At beehiiv, we prioritize maintaining a secure and respectful email environment for all users. Prohibited behavior encompasses activities that threaten the security or provision of our Services, violate privacy, or promote harassment. By adhering to these guidelines, we ensure a positive experience for everyone within the beehiiv community.

Use of beehiiv’s Services to send email that violates the CAN-SPAM act, CASL, CCPA, GDPR, or other anti-spam laws; email that results in excessive spam or similar user complaints, bounces, or blocklistings (even if the messages themselves are not malicious);
Impersonating others or falsely stating or otherwise misrepresenting your affiliation with any person, group, or entity (including by “spoofing,” “phishing,” manipulating headers or other identifiers) including falsely implying that you are affiliated with or endorsed by beehiiv or any other third party, or access the Services via another user’s account without their permission;
Create an account and/or newsletter with the sole intent or purpose of monetizing using Boosts;
Create an account and/or newsletter with the sole intent or purpose of monetizing using the Ad Network;
Account creation for the purpose of creating multiple publications that send email all having the materially similar subject lines or content, also known as waterfalling;
Failure to secure your beehiiv account, resulting in an account compromise or account takeover (ATO) that negatively impacts beehiiv’s Services to other customers;
Publish or post other people’s private information (such as a personal phone number or home address) without their express authorization and permission. We also prohibit threatening to expose private information or incentivizing others to do so. The publication of publicly accessible information is not a violation of this policy.
Publish any material that was written or created by someone else and claim it as your own; products that infringe the intellectual property rights of others, including trademark, copyright, design, or patent rights;
Impersonate or attempt to impersonate us or a beehiiv employee, another user, beehiiv, or any other person, brand, organization, or entity (including, without limitation, by using email addresses associated with any of the foregoing);
Violate the legal rights (including the rights of publicity and privacy) of others or contain any material that could give rise to any civil or criminal liability under applicable laws or regulations or that otherwise may be in conflict with beehiiv’s Terms of Use, any applicable Publisher Agreement and/or our Privacy Policy;
Engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone’s use or enjoyment of beehiiv, or which, as determined by us, may harm beehiiv or users of beehiiv, or expose them to liability.
Exploiting cost per click sponsored advertisements by asking users to click a sponsored link, or by external incentives (E.g. requiring recipients to click a sponsored ad in order to enter a contest or giveaway)
Disable, avoid, circumvent, damage, or otherwise interfere with any security or access-related features or restrictions of the Services, features that prevent or restrict the use or copying of content from the Services, or features that enforce limitations on the use of the Services;
Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage, or disrupt any parts of beehiiv, the server on which beehiiv is stored, or any server, computer, or database connected to beehiiv.
Overwhelm or attempt to overwhelm our infrastructure by imposing an unreasonably large load on the Services that consume extraordinary resources, such as by: (i) using “robots,” “spiders,” “offline readers” or other automated systems to send more request messages to our servers than a person could reasonably send in the same period of time using a normal browser; or (ii) going far beyond the use parameters for the Services;
Decipher, decompile, disassemble, or reverse engineer any of the Software
Use any part of beehiiv’s platform to create a competing product;
Introduce malware, viruses, worms, Trojan horses, bombs, phishing, spyware or other harmful code;
Publish any material that is materially false, inaccurate, or misleading in a way that could deceive or confuse others about important events, topics, or circumstances;
Behavior that in any way violates any applicable federal, state, local, or international law or regulation (including, without limitation, any laws regarding the export of data or software to and from the US or other countries); promotes any illegal activity, or advocate, promote, or assist any unlawful act;
Disparage beehiiv or our partners, vendors, or affiliates; or authorize, permit, enable, induce, or encourage any third party to do any of the above;
Send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use, or re-use any content that does not comply with these Terms of Use.
beehiiv is not an email marketing platform. We don’t permit publications that are set up with the sole purpose of advertising an external product or service, distributing offers and promotions, or similar activity. .

Prohibited Content

Email deliverability and user experience are top priorities at beehiiv. While certain email content may not be illegal, beehiiv restricts certain subject matter that may hinder deliverability or negatively impact reputation. Below, please find a non-exhaustive list of content and services not allowed on our platform.

Behavior and Content That Incites - To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use, or re-use any material that is defamatory, obscene, indecent, abusive, offensive, harassing, violent, hateful, inflammatory, or otherwise objectionable, or that could reasonably incite violence based on political, social, and cultural ideology or protected classes (e.g., incite credible threats of physical harm to people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or medical condition);
Adult Content and Services - Promotes sexually explicit or adult-based products or services including but not limited to pornography; adult magazines; video and software; escort services; dating services; adult "swinger" promotions; mail order bride or spouse finders; international marriage brokers; provided, however, the foregoing prohibition shall not apply to established retail home-based party businesses;

In addition, any material that exploits children under eighteen (18) years of age including non-consensual sex acts, child sexual abuse material (CSAM), or content that is harmful to minors will be terminated immediately without notice. CSAM will be reported to law enforcement and/or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children;
Pharmaceuticals and Nutraceuticals - Sales or services, encompassing both prescription and counterfeit drugs; statements or advertisements for nutraceuticals or dietary supplements claiming to prevent, treat, or cure health issues not approved by the relevant government authority or not permitted under applicable law or regulation;
Drugs and Other Compounds - Sales, services, or recreational usage promotions that are unlawful in the location at which the content is posted or received. This includes but is not limited to cannabis; psychedelics; and products containing cannabidiol (CBD). The foregoing prohibition shall not apply to material that focuses on drug research, education, or addiction prevention.
False or Misleading Header Information - beehiiv prohibits the transmission of commercial e-mail messages or transactional messages that contain materially false or misleading header information. Header information (i.e., the “From,” “To,” “Reply To,” along with routing information, including the originating domain name and email address) must be accurate and must clearly identify the person who initiated the message.
Alcohol, Firearms, Gambling, Tobacco, or Other Adult Content - Sales or services related to alcohol, firearms, gambling, tobacco, or other adult content require proof of age and/or geographic gating at the point of address collection. Users must ensure that no message recipient is younger than the legal age of consent based on where the recipient is located. As well, users must also ensure that the message content complies with all applicable laws of the jurisdiction in which the message recipient is located.
High-Risk Financial Products and Services - beehiiv prohibits the following financially based products and services which include but are not limited to payday loans, payday advances, or other loan products offered under usurious terms; debt collection and forgiveness; credit repair and debt relief offerings; lottery promotions; and “get rich quick” schemes, including investment opportunities or other services that promise high rewards for little effort.
Illegal Goods and Services - Including but not limited to counterfeit products produced to imitate genuine products without authorization, and pirated media: Unauthorized distribution or reproduction of copyrighted material, such as movies, music, or software.
Problematic Products and Services - Pyramid schemes or multi-level channel, network, and/or referral marketing (MLM) businesses used for prospecting or recruiting; affiliate marketing; email list brokering, sales, or exchange; lead generation opportunities; or false claims of employment opportunities disguised to collect data.
Subject to Additional Scrutiny - products related to sexual well-being or significant weight loss, cryptocurrency, including any form of digital currency;

Beehiiv maintains the exclusive right to interpret and enforce this AUP as seen fit, although we may consult outside counsel, industry experts, or academia in doing so. If you encounter content that may be in breach of these guidelines or have any questions about it, you can email us at legal@beehiiv.com.

This is an evolving document, and we reserve the right to update these Content Guidelines at our discretion and without notice.