Acceptable Use Policy

1. Acceptable Use

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") is incorporated by reference into our Terms of Service and applicable service agreements. It applies to all users and all content and activity on the Service, including author websites, newsletters, reviews, book clubs, the marketplace, and any other feature.

You are responsible for your content and conduct and for any content or conduct that occurs under your account.

2. Prohibited Content

You may not upload, post, host, sell, send, or otherwise distribute any of the following:

• Content that infringes or misappropriates any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, right of publicity, privacy, or other intellectual-property or proprietary right;
• Illegal content, or content that promotes, facilitates, or encourages illegal activity;
• Sexual content involving minors, or content sexualizing minors (including AI-generated). We report such content to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and law enforcement;
• Non-consensual intimate imagery, sexual harassment, or exploitation;
• Hate speech, slurs, or content promoting discrimination, violence, or hatred against protected groups;
• Harassment, bullying, threats, doxxing, or incitement to violence;
• Defamation, fraud, deception, or materially misleading content;
• Malware, ransomware, spyware, or any harmful code;
• Spam, phishing, or unsolicited commercial messages;
• Personal information of others collected without consent;
• Content that violates any applicable law, regulation, or third-party right.

3. Prohibited Goods & Categories (Sellers)

In addition to Section 2, sellers may not list:

• Firearms, ammunition, weapons, explosives, or related accessories;
• Hazardous, toxic, flammable, or radioactive materials;
• Controlled substances, prescription drugs (unless properly licensed), or drug paraphernalia;
• Counterfeit, pirated, or unauthorized goods;
• Stolen property;
• Recalled or unsafe products;
• Tobacco, nicotine, or vaping products;
• Animals or animal parts; regulated wildlife products;
• Items that violate OFAC/sanctions or export-control laws (see the Seller Agreement);
• Adult/sexually explicit material in violation of our policies or payment-processor rules;
• Any good the seller does not have the legal right to sell.

4. Prohibited Conduct

• Circumventing security, access controls, rate limits, or paywalls;
• Scraping, crawling, harvesting, or automated access without permission (except as permitted for legitimate accessibility or with our written consent);
• Interfering with or overloading the Service, servers, or networks;
• Reverse engineering, decompiling, or otherwise attempting to extract source code beyond what the law allows;
• Creating accounts under false identities or impersonating others;
• Manipulating reviews, ratings, reputation, search rankings, or analytics;
• Soliciting off-platform payments to evade fees, sanctions, or taxes;
• Sending unsolicited email or violating our Sending Terms;
• Using the Service to train AI models on others' content without rights;
• Reselling or sublicensing access to the Service without authorization.

5. Author Websites, Hosting & Subdomains

Author websites (subdomains and connected domains) are hosted by BookAuth. Content on these sites must comply with this AUP. BookAuth may remove content, disable a site, or terminate hosting for violations, with or without notice. Where BookAuth acts as host, it will respond to valid takedown notices (see our DMCA / Copyright Policy). Authors are responsible for the content on their sites and for any domain they connect.

6. Enforcement

Violations may result in content removal, feature restriction, account suspension or termination, fund holds or forfeiture, payout reversal, and referral to law enforcement. We may take action without prior notice where we believe it is necessary to protect users, the Service, third parties, or the law. Nothing in this AUP limits any other remedy available to us under our agreements or applicable law.

To report violations, contact [email protected] or use the report tools in the Service. For copyright issues, see our DMCA Policy.