Abuse handling and Acceptable Use Policy

Every brand on TrackCrown publishes an Acceptable Use Policy at https://www.trackcrown.com/acceptable-use and an abuse report page at https://www.trackcrown.com/abuse. This article summarises the policy for customers and explains the reporting and enforcement process. The published policy is the binding text.

The principle#

A tracking link must take people where it says it will. Transparent links (the ones with a url= parameter, used in Google Ads tracking templates) redirect to exactly that address in one step — or show an error page when the account has not approved the destination. No setting in the product can change this.

What the policy prohibits#

Country, device or OS routing of partner links and smart links is allowed; using it to send reviewers or crawlers somewhere different is not.

Reporting abuse#

Anyone — a user who clicked an ad, a security researcher, a brand owner — can report a link on the abuse page:

1. Open https://www.trackcrown.com/abuse and use the Report a link form.
2. Include the full link (everything after the ?), when you clicked it (with time zone), where you found it, where it took you and what the page asked you to do. Mention a screenshot; it will be requested by e-mail.
3. Do not open the link again to collect details, and never send passwords, payment details or malware files.

Things to report: phishing, malware, scams and deceptive offers, illegal products, cloaking and deceptive redirects, and spam containing links on one of the brand's tracking domains.

Anyone can check who operates a tracking domain by opening its home page, which names the operating company and links to its privacy policy and terms. Transparent links show their destination in the visible url parameter.

Reports arrive in Admin → Contact messages with the topic "abuse". Reporters' details are not given to the customer unless they agree or the law requires it, and reports are kept for 24 months after they were handled.

Response targets#

• Active phishing, malware or other ongoing harm: reviewed within one business day.
• Other reports: within five business days.

These are targets, not guarantees.

Investigation and enforcement#

Steps: Triage (confirm the domain is operated by the platform and identify the account from the link), Investigation (destination, approved destinations, settings, recent click records), Action, Follow-up (the reporter is told when action was taken).

Depending on severity the operator may:

1. ask the customer to fix the problem within a set period;
2. remove a destination from the account's approved destinations — links pointing to it then show an error page;
3. disable individual links, offers, partner or advertiser access, or a tracking domain;
4. suspend the account or terminate it under the Terms of Service;
5. report the matter to the affected advertising platform or to the authorities.

For phishing, malware or other ongoing harm the operator acts first and notifies afterwards; otherwise the customer is normally asked to fix the problem first. Disabling never redirects anyone elsewhere — people see an error page.

Tools the platform uses#

• Platform admins can suspend workspaces (Admin → Workspaces) and disable domains (Admin → Domains).
• With a Google Web Risk key configured, every destination host is checked every 30 minutes; the edge refuses links to flagged hosts with an error page (unsafe_target) instead of redirecting.
• Tracking domains are checked daily against Spamhaus, SURBL and Web Risk — see Compliance probes and domain health.

Appeals#

If you believe a decision was wrong, reply to the notice or contact support with the details; the decision is reviewed and you are told the outcome.

What customers should do#

• Keep Allowed destination domains (Settings → Workspace → Tracking) limited to sites you and your advertisers actually run.
• Review partners' traffic in Fraud and fail traffic and block bad sources.
• Act quickly on notices from the operator.

Related#

• Transparent links
• Security overview