Acceptable Use Policy

This policy is part of our Terms of Service. It applies to everyone who uses BoTransfer — senders, recipients and account holders — and to every file, folder name, title, message and email address you put into the service, and to the logo, business name, short message, website link and background picture you add to branded download pages (Pro). In this policy "content" means any of those things.

1. Illegal content — never allowed

You must not upload, send, share or ask for any content that is illegal in the United Kingdom, including:

• Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) of any kind, including drawn, computer-generated or AI-made images, and anything that grooms, sexualises or exploits a child. We report it to the National Crime Agency and close the account immediately.
• Terrorist content — material that encourages, promotes or helps someone commit or prepare acts of terrorism, or that supports a proscribed organisation.
• Intimate images shared without consent, including threats to share them, "deepfake" sexual images of real people, and images taken without consent.
• Extreme pornography as defined in UK law.
• Fraud and financial crime — phishing, fake documents, stolen card or bank details, money-laundering material, and files used to deceive people out of money or information.
• Threats, harassment and stalking — content intended to threaten, harass, intimidate or cause serious distress, including hate crime and content stirring up hatred.
• Sale or supply of illegal items — drugs, weapons, firearms, knives, or instructions for making weapons or explosives.
• Encouraging suicide or serious self-harm, or assisting it.
• Material that infringes intellectual property — copyright, trade marks or other rights, unless you have permission or a legal exception applies. See our Copyright Policy.
• Unlawfully obtained or disclosed personal data, such as leaked databases or someone's private information shared without a lawful reason.
• Any other content whose possession or distribution is a criminal offence in the UK, or that is illegal in the country where you or the recipient are.

2. Other content and conduct not allowed

Even where it might be lawful, you must not use BoTransfer to:

• send malware, viruses, ransomware or any code designed to damage, disrupt or gain unauthorised access to a device or system;
• send spam or unsolicited bulk messages, or use our transfer emails to contact people who did not expect to hear from you;
• pretend to be another person or organisation, or make a transfer look as if it came from someone else;
• host files for public distribution — for example posting a transfer link publicly so that large numbers of strangers download it, using BoTransfer as a content delivery network, or as permanent storage for a website or app;
• share sexually explicit material with anyone who has not clearly agreed to receive it, or with anyone under 18;
• send content that a reasonable person would find seriously offensive and that is targeted at a recipient to cause distress.

3. Using the service fairly

You must not:

• get around plan limits or fair-use limits — for example by using several email addresses, accounts or devices, by splitting one transfer into many, or by automating sign-ups or email codes;
• get around the bot check, rate limits, password protection or any other security feature;
• probe, scan or test the security of BoTransfer, except under a written agreement with us (security researchers: email support@botransfer.com first and we will agree terms);
• overload the service, interfere with other users, or download from BoTransfer with tools that bypass our download pages, other than ordinary download managers used for your own transfers;
• resell, rent or offer BoTransfer as part of your own service without our written permission;
• copy, scrape or reverse-engineer the service, except to the extent the law allows this despite this restriction.

The limits for each plan, including the precise fair-use limits for Pro, are set out in section 3 of our Terms of Service.

4. What we do if this policy is broken

We do not routinely look inside transfers. We act when we receive a report, when our automated limits or security checks flag an account, or when we are told about content by an authority. If three different people report the same transfer, its link is switched off automatically until a person reviews it; the files are kept while we review, and we then either restore the transfer or remove it. A transfer whose downloads reach the plan's limit is paused in the same way. When we decide content or an account breaks this policy or the law, we may take one or more of these steps:

• disable the transfer link and permanently delete its files;
• switch off the branding on an account's download pages and emails;
• block a sender email address, account, email domain or internet (IP) address from sending further transfers — this happens automatically once two of a sender's transfers have been removed for breaking our rules;
• suspend an account while we investigate, or close it;
• keep a record of the content's details (not the files themselves, except where the law requires us to preserve them) and of what we did;
• report the matter to the police, the National Crime Agency, the Internet Watch Foundation or another authority, where the law requires it or we believe it is necessary to protect someone.

We act in proportion to how serious the problem is. For child sexual abuse material, terrorist content, and anything that threatens someone's life or safety, we act immediately and close the account without warning. For less serious issues, such as an accidental breach of a limit, we will usually warn you first.

Removing content or suspending an account does not entitle you to a refund, unless we removed it by mistake or the law gives you one. If we close a paid account because of a serious breach, our refund policy explains what happens to the rest of your subscription.

5. We tell you why

When we remove a transfer or restrict an account, we email the sender a statement of reasons. It says what we did, which content it concerns, the rule or law it broke, whether the decision was made with any automated means, and how to appeal. We do not send this where doing so could help someone commit a crime, put a person at risk, or where an authority has asked us not to — for example in child sexual abuse cases.

6. Appeals

If you think we got it wrong, reply to our email or write to report@botransfer.com within six months, saying which transfer or account and why. A person who was not involved in the first decision will review it and reply within 14 days. If we were wrong, we restore your account and remove the strike from your record. Files we have already deleted cannot be restored, but you are free to send them again. You can also use the other complaint routes in section 13 of our Terms of Service.

7. How to report a transfer

Anyone can report a transfer, without an account:

• use the Report link on any download page, or the report form;
• or email report@botransfer.com with the transfer link and what is wrong.

Please include the transfer link, why you think it is illegal or breaks this policy, and — if you want to hear back — your email address. You can report anonymously, but then we cannot tell you the outcome. We acknowledge reports by email within one working day where you give us an address, and we review reports of child sexual abuse material, terrorism or threats to life as our first priority, normally within a few hours. Copyright complaints follow the process in our Copyright Policy.

If you find child sexual abuse material: do not download, copy or forward it, even to us. Report the link to us and to the Internet Watch Foundation at iwf.org.uk/en/uk-report. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.

We will not tell the sender who reported them, unless the law requires it. Knowingly making false or abusive reports is itself a breach of this policy.

8. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy to reflect changes in the law or in how people misuse file-sharing services. We will change the date at the top and, for significant changes, tell account holders by email before the change takes effect.