Acceptable Use Policy

Overview

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") governs the use of all services provided by TheOnionHost, including shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated servers, streaming servers, and domain registration across all jurisdictions.

TheOnionHost operates on a simple principle: operators deserve the freedom to run legitimate projects without unnecessary interference, while certain categories of harmful content are prohibited without exception.

This AUP should be read alongside our Terms of Service. By using any TheOnionHost service, you agree to the terms set out here.

Permitted Use

TheOnionHost actively supports a broad range of legitimate operations. The following categories of content and services are explicitly supported:

The permitted list is not exhaustive. If your use case is not listed above, it is likely permitted provided it does not fall within the prohibited categories and is not illegal under the laws of the applicable hosting jurisdiction. Tor relays used for legitimate privacy tooling may be discussed case-by-case; Tor exit nodes remain restricted.

Prohibited Content & Material Breach

TheOnionHost provides high-privacy infrastructure optimized for legitimate privacy tools, media distribution, and free-expression platforms. Our network is not unrestricted. We enforce a zero-tolerance policy for active criminal behavior that threatens human safety, data integrity, or global network stability.

The following activities are strictly prohibited on all shared, VPS, and dedicated environments. Facilitating, hosting, or routing traffic associated with these activities constitutes a material breach and will result in immediate service termination without notice and total forfeiture of prepaid funds and credits:

• ✗ CSAM — child sexual abuse material or any exploitation of minors
• ✗ Malware / Spyware / Ransomware — hosting or distributing ransomware payloads, spyware, keyloggers, RATs, trojans, exploit kits, or similar tools
• ✗ Botnet C2 / Infostealers — operating botnet command-and-control servers or infostealer endpoints
• ✗ Phishing / Banking Fraud — phishing portals, credential-harvesting kits, fake login pages, or banking fraud landing pages
• ✗ Outbound DDoS / Brute-Forcing — launching or coordinating outbound DDoS, SYN floods, IP spoofing, network brute-forcing, or stresser/booter services
• ✗ Spam / Unsolicited Communications — unsolicited email, SMS, or messages; mailing lists without proper opt-in
• ✗ Fraud / Carding — carding, identity theft, fake shops, money laundering, or similar fraud schemes
• ✗ Betting / Gambling — hosting, promoting, or facilitating online betting, casinos, or gambling, even if legal in some jurisdictions
• ✗ Adult Content — hosting any form of adult content, sexually explicit material, or pornography regardless of jurisdiction
• ✗ Movie / Video Hosting on Shared Plans — large video files (movies, TV series) on Shared Hosting; allowed on VPS or Dedicated only
• ✗ Illegal Drugs / Medicines — promoting, selling, or distributing illegal drugs or unlicensed medicines
• ✗ Tor Exit Relays — Tor exit nodes; legitimate VPN/proxy for privacy is permitted; open proxies without abuse controls are not
• ✗ IP Blacklisting Conduct — behavior that causes our IP space to be listed on Spamhaus DROP, ASN-DROP, or equivalent RBLs
• ✗ Other Criminal Activity — activities criminal under the law of the physical hosting location; harassment, threats, or incitement to violence; human trafficking facilitation

This list matches Terms of Service §4.2. High-signal abuse reports (phishing kits, C2 indicators, Spamhaus-class listings, CSAM, adult/gambling AUP breaches) are investigated promptly and may trigger immediate suspension. Grey-area or borderline reports may be raised with the account holder before final action. Abuse reports: billing abuse ticket or [email protected].

Complaints & Notices

TheOnionHost receives two types of complaints: those with legal force under the server's jurisdiction, and those without. The distinction matters.

Legally enforceable complaints are those filed through the appropriate legal system of the hosting jurisdiction — Bulgarian courts for Bulgarian servers, Ukrainian courts for Ukrainian servers, and Dutch courts for Netherlands servers. These are reviewed by our legal team and actioned appropriately.

Foreign instruments — including United States DMCA notices and European Union Digital Services Act-style administrative requests — carry no automatic extraterritorial legal weight under local law. These are forwarded to the account holder as informational notices. No unilateral action is taken based on foreign civil instruments alone unless compelled by a valid local court order. Full process: Jurisdiction & Notice Policy.

Enforcement

Violations of this AUP that fall within the prohibited categories will result in immediate service suspension or termination without prior notice, with forfeiture of prepaid funds and credits for material zero-tolerance breaches. This applies regardless of the jurisdiction of the complaint or the identity of the reporting party.

For borderline cases or grey-area content, our team will evaluate the content against local law in the applicable jurisdiction and may contact the account holder before taking action.

We reserve the right to terminate services for any account that, in our reasonable judgment, poses a legal, reputational, or operational risk to TheOnionHost — even in the absence of a formal complaint.

Upstream / network integrity: If utilization patterns, Spamhaus or equivalent blocklisting, or other activity creates severe transit or data-center pressure against our subnets, we may isolate, throttle, or suspend the service. Lawful content that still threatens shared infrastructure stability may require migration to isolated dedicated networking at the Client's expense, or amicable termination. See Terms §4.4.

Jurisdiction

Each hosting location operates under a separate legal framework. Content and infrastructure disputes follow the law of the physical server location:

Bulgaria (Sofia) — EU member state. Bulgarian law applies. Foreign civil instruments require competent Bulgarian process to compel unilateral content action.

Ukraine (Kyiv) — Ukrainian law applies for servers in Kyiv. Foreign civil notices (including US DMCA-style instruments) are informational unless a valid Ukrainian court order or local legal process requires otherwise.

Netherlands (Amsterdam) — EU member state. Dutch law and GDPR (AVG) apply. Strong privacy protections with AMS-IX network access.

In all cases, the applicable law is the law of the physical server location. Foreign legal instruments — including DMCA and DSA-style requests — do not have automatic extraterritorial force; local court proceedings are required for enforceable unilateral takedown of civil disputes. Detail: /dmca/.

Contact

For questions about this policy, legal inquiries, or abuse reports:

Support & General: billing.theonionhost.com/submitticket.php

Abuse Reports: Submit via the abuse department through our ticket system, marked as urgent for CSAM or active malware infrastructure.

Legal Notices: Legal instruments with jurisdiction must be submitted through the appropriate local legal channels of the hosting jurisdiction. Foreign legal instruments should be addressed to our ticket system and will be reviewed by our legal team.