Acceptable Use Policy

Version: 1.0

Effective date: 24 July 2026

Last updated: 24 July 2026

This policy applies to all hionet game server hosting, Discord bot hosting and related Services, including content, traffic, commands, integrations and activity using them. It also applies, where relevant, to hionet-controlled public listings, profiles, reviews, comments, messages, Discord communities and game servers. It forms part of the Terms of Service and should be read with the Online Safety and User Content Policy.

1. Your responsibility

You are responsible for activity by your users, administrators, applications and credentials. You must take reasonable security measures, keep software updated, use strong authentication, investigate compromise and cooperate with proportionate abuse mitigation. Do not test security against systems you do not own or have explicit permission to test.

2. Prohibited unlawful and harmful activity

You must not use a Service to create, upload, host, link to as part of unlawful facilitation, distribute or promote:

  • content or conduct unlawful in the United Kingdom or in a jurisdiction with a sufficient connection to you or the activity;

  • child sexual abuse material, sexual exploitation of children, grooming or content that sexualises minors;

  • non-consensual intimate images, sexual extortion, trafficking or credible threats of violence;

  • terrorist content or material unlawfully supporting or facilitating terrorism;

  • fraud, phishing, impersonation intended to deceive, scams, theft or money laundering;

  • malware, ransomware, botnets, credential theft, malicious code or command-and-control infrastructure;

  • instructions or services primarily intended to enable unauthorised access, material cyber harm or evasion of security controls;

  • unlawful sale or supply of controlled drugs, weapons, stolen goods or regulated products;

  • content that infringes copyright, trade marks, privacy, confidentiality or other rights;

  • unlawful harassment, stalking, doxxing, discrimination or incitement to hatred or violence; or

  • any activity prohibited by applicable sanctions or export-control law.

Context matters. Legitimate security research, journalism, education, archival material and legal discussion are not prohibited merely because they address harmful subjects, but must remain lawful and appropriately controlled.

3. Network and platform abuse

You must not:

  • gain or attempt unauthorised access to accounts, systems, data or networks;

  • scan, probe, intercept or stress-test third-party systems without permission;

  • launch or facilitate denial-of-service attacks, amplification, packet spoofing or malicious automation;

  • operate open proxies, open mail relays, public recursive DNS resolvers or similar services that create material abuse risk without our written approval and adequate controls;

  • send spam or unsolicited bulk messages, use harvested or purchased lists without a lawful basis, or evade unsubscribe requests;

  • manipulate message headers, caller identity, traffic origin, reviews, advertising metrics or platform enforcement;

  • consume shared resources in a way that materially degrades service for others, circumvent limits or conceal prohibited usage; or

  • use IP addresses in a way likely to damage reputation or cause blocklisting.

Cryptocurrency mining, high-risk tunnelling, nested virtualisation, mass mailing, scraping, reselling and other intensive uses are permitted only if the product description allows them or we approve them in writing. Approval does not permit unlawful conduct or use beyond resource limits.

4. Game-server and Discord-platform abuse

You must not use a Service to:

  • operate pirated, unauthorised or unlawfully modified game-server software, assets, plugins or mods;

  • distribute cheats, credential stealers, malware or tools primarily intended to compromise players, servers or accounts;

  • use a Discord bot for unsolicited bulk direct messages, raids, harassment, artificial engagement, token theft, platform-evasion or other abusive automation;

  • expose, share or misuse Discord bot tokens, webhooks, API keys or third-party credentials;

  • evade a game publisher's, platform's or Discord's technical restrictions or enforcement where doing so is unlawful or materially threatens our network;

  • host unlawful gambling, prize, marketplace or payment activity without all required permissions and controls; or

  • misrepresent affiliation with hionet, a game publisher, Discord or another third party.

You remain responsible for the conduct of players, moderators, bot administrators and authorised users under your control. A third-party platform rule is not automatically part of this policy, but we may restrict activity where a credible breach exposes hionet, our suppliers or other users to legal, security or service risk.

5. Intellectual property

You must have rights or permission for hosted content and software. Rights holders should use the process in the Abuse and Illegal Content Policy. A notice does not automatically prove infringement; we may request evidence, forward a notice, seek a response and take proportionate interim action.

6. Security and vulnerability disclosure

If your Service is compromised, you must promptly contain it, rotate credentials, patch the cause and preserve relevant logs where lawful. Tell us promptly if compromise may affect our systems or other users.

Do not access, alter, retain or disclose data encountered during security research beyond what is necessary to demonstrate the issue. Report suspected vulnerabilities privately to [email protected] with reproducible detail. Do not demand payment or threaten disclosure. We will assess good-faith reports, but this policy does not authorise testing of customer systems or exempt unlawful conduct.

7. Enforcement

We assess severity, evidence, urgency, recurrence, customer cooperation and impact. Responses may include a warning, content or port restriction, rate limit, quarantine, credential reset, temporary suspension or termination. Where reasonably possible, we will target the affected content or function rather than the whole account, explain the general reason, allow remediation and provide a way to challenge mistakes.

We may act without prior notice where necessary to prevent imminent harm, secure systems, preserve evidence, comply with law or address serious or repeated abuse. We will review continuing restrictions and restore access when the risk is resolved. We may preserve and disclose information only as described in the Privacy Notice and Law Enforcement and Government Requests Policy.

8. Reporting

Report abuse to [email protected] with the subject “Abuse report” using the information requested in the Abuse and Illegal Content Policy. Do not send illegal imagery as an attachment. For immediate danger, contact the appropriate emergency service first.

Knowingly false, abusive or bad-faith reports may themselves breach this policy. Good-faith mistakes will not be penalised merely because a report is not upheld.