Acceptable Use Policy

Last updated and effective: April 23, 2025.

This Acceptable Use Policy (“Policy”) describes StackAdapt’s rules and guidelines applicable to our clients’ (referred to herein as “you” or “your”) use of StackAdapt Services to distribute digital advertising or direct message marketing campaigns.  As used herein, “Ads” refers to Content that is displayed on digital media inventory and distributed as an advertising campaign and “Messages” refer to communications directed to a particular recipient (whether through email, SMS, or other direct messaging method), “Content” includes text, graphics, rich media, video and/or audio material (or any combination thereof). StackAdapt reserves the right to determine, in its sole judgment, whether an Ad or Message, or the digital properties to which the Ads or Messages re-direct or link, violates this Policy. This Policy is intended to serve as guidance to assist in protecting the interests of StackAdapt, our clients, our publishing and inventory supply partners, and recipients of Ads and Messages. It is not intended as legal advice and you are advised not to rely on it as such. StackAdapt may update or revise this Policy from time to time, which updates will be effective upon posting. You agree that you will review this Policy periodically. 

In addition to this Policy and your agreement with StackAdapt governing your use of the Services, you must comply with any applicable requirements imposed by each digital media inventory source on which you place your Ads and those imposed by any supply side platform (SSP), or other platform involved in the delivery of any of your Ads or Messages. Nothing herein shall limit your responsibility to comply with all laws and regulations that apply to you and StackAdapt in connection with the provision and use of the Services (“Applicable Laws”). StackAdapt’s failure to remove, disallow or block any Content you distribute through the Services will not be construed as an approval thereof and does not relieve you of your obligations to comply with this Policy and all applicable laws.

Content

Your Content may need to be verified by StackAdapt before using the Services for distribution and you acknowledge that you are solely responsible for any clearance searches in connection with your Content, including the clearance of any specific claims (including without limitation audio, visual, or written components) and any substantiation (if required or requested).

Prohibited Content

The following types of Content and the website(s) to which any Content links or re-directs are prohibited when using the Services.

Category	Examples
Fraudulent	Content associated with any activity designed to sell advertising under fraudulent pretenses, including but not limited to non-human traffic, tag hijacking, hidden ads, domain spoofing, cookie stuffing, generating fake impressions or clicks, misrepresenting advertiser characteristics (such as the landing page URL, advertiser vertical, etc.), reselling of ads under false pretenses, (e.g., misrepresenting the publisher or the type of ad unit), etc.
Automatic, Unexpected, and Disruptive User Events and Experiences	Content that contains, provides access to, prompts, or automatically initiates (without intentional User consent or interaction) audio, software or file downloads, malicious code (e.g., malware, Trojan horses, and viruses, etc.) or that redirects to other sites or destinations (a.k.a., “cloaking,” a situation where the Content presented to StackAdapt for review is different from the Content presented via redirect to the User’s browser).  Content that takes an unreasonable amount of time to load/initiate a User experience or that disrupts a User’s ability to navigate their experience, e.g., by preventing a User from leaving a page or by opening dialog boxes or pop-up windows.
Deceptive and Misleading	Content that attempts to trick or deceive a User into taking some action (e.g., “clickbait” Content, Content that resembles User interface elements, Content that displays fake errors or warnings, such as warnings about viruses, missing codecs, or corrupt disks, etc.), obscures/replaces/modifies another party’s ads or content, or that markets false or unrealistic promises such as, e.g., extreme weight loss, miracle cure, anti-aging, etc. Content must not include any unsubstantiated claims, and all statements, representations, or claims in any Content must be supported by verifiable evidence, research, or appropriate documentation and, to the extent Content includes a testimonial, endorsement, or review, it must be reflective of the true experiences shared.
Defamatory	Content that depicts, contains, or provides access to material that is damaging to the reputation of another.
Illegal	Content that is, or that StackAdapt reasonably believes in its sole discretion is, likely to be in violation of any applicable law, regulation or court order.
Illegal Products, Services, and Activities or Enables Malicious Behavior	Content may not promote, facilitate or encourage the purchase, sale, or use of illegal products, services, and activities. This includes, but is not limited to, Content that: – Discriminates or encourages discrimination against persons based on personal attributes such as race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, familial status, disability, and medical or genetic conditions; – Uses a trademark or logo is identical to or not significantly different from the registered trademark of another; – Promotes or includes counterfeit or fake products and services; – Is designed to obtain information from a User under false pretenses (a.k.a., “phishing”) – Falsely implies affiliation or endorsements by another individual or entity; – Promotes false promises or scams; – Depicts, contains, or provides access to offers or entities that charge for government or publicly available forms and services that are available for a lesser charge or fee from the government; – Sells clicks, followers, likes, reviews, or similar services, including “arbitrage” or the promotion of destinations for the sole or primary purpose of showing ads; – Aids in accessing pirated media; – Is wholly for affiliate networks or lead generation businesses (dedicated landing pages that contain a form for visitors to fill out must be associated with a business that offers more than pure lead generation); – Promotes unregistered securities or financial services; – Promotes pyramid schemes; – Promotes the sale of illegal drugs, pharmaceuticals, or supplements (may vary by jurisdiction); or – Offers credit repair services.
Implied Knowledge	Content that implies knowledge of personally identifiable information or sensitive characteristics, including, but not limited to:  – commission or alleged commission of crimes; – marital status; – health or medical information; – financial status; – political affiliation (other than publicly available information); – precise historic location; – racial or ethnic information; – religion or philosophical belief; – adult activities (e.g., sexual behavior) or sexual orientation; – status as a “child” (may vary by jurisdiction); – personal hardship; and – union membership or affiliation, etc.
Infringes the Rights or Contracts of Others	Content that StackAdapt reasonably believes (a) contains content that does, or is likely to, infringe or misappropriate any intellectual property rights of a third party or (b) promotes or induces infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property rights of a third party. This includes the infringement of intellectual property rights and violations of privacy, publicity, or other personal proprietary rights, including the promotion of services that are used to primarily to infringe copyrights, trademarks, or patents.
Invalid or Improper Classification or Branding (Changes)	Content or assets (e.g., pixels, third party materials, etc.) that are swapped or changed by User with respect to their characteristics, including, but not limited to, the improper classification or branding of: – Creatives that cycle through multiple advertisers; – Landing page URLs – Auto-plays; and – Actions.
Inappropriate, Threatening, or Offensive	Content that StackAdapt reasonably deems, in its sole discretion, to be inappropriate, threatening, or patently offensive and without social value. Examples include, but are not limited to Content that: – Incites hatred or promotes discrimination – Insults, humiliates, harasses or bullies an individual or group; – Contains hate group information or paraphernalia; – Contains obscene or profane language; – Contains adult materials, pornographic materials, or other overtly sexual/suggestive/provocative/risqué elements, or that depicts nudity (including animated images); – Advocates for mental or physical harm of oneself or others; – Religiously vilifies;Is violent or that contains gruesome imagery; and,  – Capitalizes, exploits, dismisses, condones, profits from, or that lacks sensitivity to,e.g., emergencies, natural disasters, deaths, conflict/wars, and victims.
Violence and or Weaponry	Content may not promote or depict violent or dangerous activities or materials, including content that is shocking, sensational, gory, obscene, or that promotes or depicts physical injury, harm or abuse, weapons (including weapon modification or accessories), ammunition, fireworks or other explosive materials.

Permitted, with Restrictions Content – Regulated Industries 

Industries (and their associated products, activities, and services) that are currently subject to government or industry-specific regulation of advertising (including industry self-regulatory guidelines) include Alcohol; Cannabis; CBD; Cryptocurrency and Blockchain; Dangerous Goods; Financial Products and Services; Gambling and Games; Healthcare and Medicines; Political; and Tobacco and Tobacco Related Products. Ads or Messages from businesses in these industries are  subject to additional scrutiny and verification by StackAdapt that such advertising activities are being conducted in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, and may only be permitted with restrictions. Additionally, advertising activities for these industries may be subject to the use of specific inventory packages or templates. Such restrictions are based on laws and regulations (which may be jurisdiction-specific), industry best practices, and other business risk considerations. There may be additional industries not listed above that may become regulated or be considered regulated by StackAdapt at a future time. Advertisers in regulated industries may be subject to additional detailed content guidelines to be provided separately (“Additional Content Guidelines”). If you are part of a business within a regulated industry, you must hold all required licenses, permits, approvals, registrations or any other required government approval that is necessary for you to use the Services to distribute Ads and Messages. In addition, you acknowledge that publisher partners may have their own policies that differ from StackAdapt and have the right to reject Content that does not comply with their policies. StackAdapt is not responsible for Content that is rejected by publishers. StackAdapt maintains the right, at its sole discretion and at any time to proceed with the utmost caution regarding the advertising activities of customers in regulated industries and to deem content, as “Permitted With Restrictions” or “Prohibited”, and to limit or remove the appearance of inappropriate, illegal, or harmful Content.

For all Content directly or indirectly involving products, activities, and services associated with regulated industries, you agree that: 

1. All Content will be true and accurate.

2. The products, activities, and services may be legally produced, promoted, sold, distributed, and consumed in the jurisdictions where you do business and where the Ads or Messages are targeted, retargeted, or distributed. 

3. You will not make any claims in the Content that are subject to regulatory approval or oversight unless they have been approved by applicable federal, state, and local governmental authorities. 

4. Content will not be targeted to or designed to appeal to individuals under the legal age applicable to the products, activities, and services in the jurisdictions (or through industry requirements) where the Content is targeted or distributed. 

5. Your Content will include appropriate disclaimers, disclosures, icons or labels where required. Further, StackAdapt may attempt to (but is not required to) place such disclaimers, disclosures, icons or labels on Content where advisable and may, with prior notice of applicable rates, invoice you for any additional costs associated with placement of the foregoing. Your Content will comply with all blackout periods, foreign interference regulations, and campaign finance reporting requirements (if applicable). 

6. For verification purposes and upon StackAdapt’s request, you shall promptly provide StackAdapt with all requested information (e.g., for political Content the name of the candidate/issue/ballot initiative, the name and address of the advertiser, the name and address of the entity paying (including the name and title of an executive) for the Content, federal/state/employer identification numbers, the duration of the campaign, the aggregate audience size, targeting metrics, cost and payment information, evidence of necessary licenses, and the creatives). All such information must be true and accurate in all respects and you authorize StackAdapt to disclose such information to third parties if required by law or if StackAdapt chooses to maintain a publicly accessible database or registry of such information. You will notify StackAdapt within forty-eight (48) hours if you become aware of the following:

Usage 

You may not use the Services if you are legally prohibited from receiving or using our Services under the laws of the country in which you reside or from which you access the Services. Further, you may not use the Services in any manner that would violate any industry-specific regulations (e.g., the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”)), the Federal Information Security Management Act (“FISMA”), Section 5 of the FTC Act, CAN-SPAM, or Canada’s CASL or any other regulations that may be applicable to your use of the Services;

When generating or sending Messages through the Services, you must:

a. Have a Privacy Policy (compliant with applicable law) posted for each domain associated with the mailing;

b. Have the means to track general privacy compliance;

c. Not obscure the source of your e-mail in any manner;

d. Post an email address for complaints (such as abuse@yourdomain.com) in a conspicuous place on any website associated with the email, and promptly respond to messages sent to that address;

e. Include the recipient’s e-mail address in the body of the message or in the “TO” line of the e-mail; and

f. Honor revocations of consent and notify recipients of the same.

These policies apply to Messages sent using the Services, or, if applicable, to Messages sent from any network that directly or indirectly refers the recipient to a site hosted via the Services. These requirements apply to distribution lists created by third parties to the same extent as if you created the list.

You also may not:

g. Use third party email addresses, domain names, or mail servers without proper permission;

h. Send emails to non-specific addresses (e.g., webmaster@domain.com or info@domain.com);

i. Send emails that result in an unacceptable number of spam or UCE complaints (even if the emails themselves are not actually spam or UCE);

j. When required by applicable Law, fail to include a working “unsubscribe” link in each email that allows the recipient to remove themselves from your mailing list;

k. Disguise the origin or subject matter of any email or falsify or manipulate the originating email address, subject line, headers, or transmission path information for any email;

l. Fail to include in each email your valid physical mailing address or a link to that information; or

m. Include “junk mail,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” incentives (e.g., coupons, discounts, awards, or other incentives) or other material in any email that encourages a recipient to forward the Message to another recipient.

Campaign Practices

Landing Pages, Thumbnail, Title, and Branding Text

All landing pages associated with Content must provide positive User experiences and appropriately disclose promotional content. Further, all advertisements and other third party content must comply with this Policy and disclose advertisement status and any content or links on a landing page sponsored by a third party must clearly and conspicuously be labeled as “sponsored.” All Content stored, displayed, distributed, or otherwise made available by you via the Services must be consistent with the advertising specifications to be provided separately (“Ad Specs”). All titles, thumbnails, and branding text associated with Content must not be misleading and should accurately reflect sources/subjects/landing pages, be of poor quality or low resolution, or contain excessive punctuation. 

Targeting

The following policies apply to your targeting of Ads to Users through the Services.  The Services may not be used to target or retarget Ads to Users, or exclude Users from being targeted in a way that implies knowledge of sensitive information as follows:

Prohibited Targeting

Ads may not be targeted to an audience based on any of the following factors:

• Religious or similar beliefs or affiliations;
• Race, color, or ethnic origin;
• Sexual history, interests, or orientation;
• Transgender identification;
• Genetic or biometric information;
• Negative financial status (such as credit score), or criminal record, history, or convictions;
• Health or medical records, including prescription records;
• Relationships or relationship status related to personal hardships (such as divorce, bereavement);
• Abuse and trauma, including status as a victim of crime, abuse, or traumatic event;
• Membership in a marginalized or vulnerable group, including based on social caste or immigration or refugee status; or
• In locations generally considered sensitive. Examples include:
  • A personal address. Only business addresses (e.g., Exchange Tower or Empire State Building) or public locations (e.g., Central Park) may be used as the locations around which ads are targeted;
  • Locations designed for Children, including locations such as:
    • Day care centers
    • Playgrounds
    • Schools below the college level (preschools, primary schools, and secondary schools)
    • Tutoring and educational services
    • Youth organizations
  • Locations designed for survivors of abuse, including locations such as:
    • Rape crisis centers
    • Women’s shelters
  • Locations associated with pregnancy, sexual health, sexual orientation, or sensitive health conditions, such as:
    • Abortion clinics
    • Alcohol and drug services
    • Healthcare or other facilities with an emphasis on pregnancy, sexual health, or sensitive health conditions
    • LGBT centers and venues
  • Locations associated with governmental offices and/or agencies; and
  • Locations that reveal racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade-union membership, such as:
    • Churches
    • Trade union offices
    • Political rallies
    • Protests or demonstrations.

In addition, within the European Union, Ads may not be targeted to or directed at an audience based on the following factors, whether known or inferred about the User:

• Political affiliation;
• Trade union membership; and
• Any other special categories of personal data set forth in the current data protection laws applicable to the EU.

Health-Related Targeting. You may not collect sensitive health-related data or  make inferences about Users’ sensitive health or medical treatments. In particular, you may not use the Services to target Ads for treatment of any of the following: any form of cancer, mental health-related conditions, or sexually transmitted diseases. Ads may be targeted for non-sensitive health conditions, including acne, allergies, dental, vision, heartburn, cold and flu, sinus, headache, back pain, first aid, sore throat, blood sugar management, diet and fitness, hair removal, and vitamins and supplements.

Children: In connection with your use of the Services, you may not target or serve Ads to:

• Individuals under the age of 17 (“Children”);
• Based on the prior online activity of a User of digital properties directed at Children; or
• Create segments that target or re-target or segments that are intended to target or re-target Children.

No Discrimination

Overall, you may not use the Services to engage in discrimination in violation of law, including by wrongfully targeting specific groups of people for advertising, wrongfully excluding specific groups of people from seeing Ads, or featuring discriminatory content in Ads. You are responsible for using the Services responsibly to avoid discrimination against protected classes, including but not limited to ensuring that your Ads do not have a disparate impact on protected classes.