Ads.com, Inc. Offensive Domain Name And Referral Ad Policy
This Offensive Domain Name Policy sets forth the general guidelines that Ads.com, Inc. (“Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) will use to determine whether to reject a potential domain name or Referral because of its offensive or unapproved nature. This supplements the General Terms of Service and the AMP Policies set forth in the AMP Terms. Company reserves the right to deny listing of any domain or Referral Ad that violates this Offensive Domain Name and Referral Ad Policy or for any other reason. Company also reserves the right to add policies to this this Offensive Domain Name and Referral Ad Policy as warranted and it is your responsibility as a Client of Ads.com to monitor this Policy and ensure you stay in compliance with it.
Offensive Material
Offensive Material means that which, in Company’s sole determination, promotes or praises hatred, violence, child pornography, bestiality, racial or religious intolerance or other similar impermissible content. Once discovered by or reported to Company, domain names or Referral Ads containing any offensive materials may not be listed and may be removed without warning or notice to anyone, including any Member in whose account the domain name or Referral Ad is intended to be or is already listed. Repeated attempts to list domain names or or Referral Ads containing offensive material may result in suspension or cancelation of the Member’s account, without warning or notice to the user, and without liability on the part of Company. Nor does Company wish to list or otherwise provide Services for any domain name or Referral Ad that, in Company’s sole discretion, promotes or tends to promote organizations that endorse and/or encourage hatred, violence, child pornography, bestiality, racial or religious intolerance. This includes, but is not limited to, domains or Referral Ads promoting organizations such as the KKK, Nazis, neo-Nazis, the Aryan nation or other similar organizations.
Non-exhaustive List or Unapproved Referral Ad Characteristics
For your reference, the following is a non-exhaustive list Referral Ad characteristics which Ads.com monitors Your Referral Ads for.
Referral Ads (“Ads” or “ads”) need to provide a quality user experience: In order to provide a quality user experience, Ads.com, Inc. requires that all ads, assets, and destinations meet high professional and editorial standards. We only allow ads that are clear, professional in appearance.
Unclear relevance: All information should be relevant to what you’re advertising. For example, all submitted ad fields must represent the same advertiser and be relevant to the promoted product. See the policy on Unclear relevance for more information.
No Counterfeit Goods: Ads.com prohibits ads that promote the sale or promotion for sale of counterfeit goods. Counterfeit goods contain a trademark or logo that is identical to or substantially indistinguishable from the trademark of another. They mimic the brand features of the product in an attempt to pass themselves off as a genuine product of the brand owner.
Enabling dishonest behavior: We value honesty and fairness, so we don't allow the ads that are designed to enable dishonest behavior such as incentivized clicking on any ad on your Landing Page.
We value diversity and respect for others, and we strive to avoid offending users, so we don’t allow ads or destinations that display shocking content or promote hatred, intolerance, discrimination, or violence.
Visitors must trust the AMP Platform: We want users to trust the ads on our platform, so we strive to ensure ads are clear and honest, and provide the information that users need to make informed decisions. We don’t allow ads that deceive users by excluding relevant product information or providing misleading information about products, services, or businesses.
Clickbait Ads: The following is not allowed: Ads that use clickbait tactics or sensationalist text or imagery to drive traffic. Examples (non-exhaustive): Ads that claim to reveal secrets, scandals or other sensationalist information about the product or service being advertised; ads which use clickbait messaging such as ‘‘Click here to find out”, “You won’t believe what happened” or phrases synonymous or similar to encourage the user to click on the Ad in order to understand the full context of the ad; ads which use clearly altered zoomed in body parts, mugshots, or real life accident or disaster photos to promote a product or a service; or ads which use “before and after” images to promote significant alterations to the human body
Also prohibited are ads that use negative life events such as death, accidents, illness, arrests or bankruptcy to induce fear, guilt or other strong negative emotions to pressure the viewer to take immediate action.
Misleading ad design: You are not allowed to run Referral Ads that make it difficult for the user to understand they are interacting with an ad. Examples (non-exhaustive) include Ads that resemble system or site warnings/error messages; ads that simulate messages, dialog boxes, menus, or request notifications; hosted ads that are indistinguishable from other content; ads depicting features that do not work, such as close buttons, text input boxes, multiple choice options; download/install buttons or icons in image ads; ads with a transparent background; images that are segmented; an image that contains multiple copies of itself within the ad; images that appear to be more than one ad; moving and clicking arrows; ads that use surreptitious techniques to disguise their nature.
Unclear relevance: The following is not allowed: Referral Ads that are not relevant to the destination landing page. Examples (non-exhaustive): An ad that doesn't clearly indicate that the resulting destination landing page; an ad that doesn’t accurately describe what the user will see on the destination; using overly general keywords or engaging in keyword spam.
Reporting Domains and Referral Ads that Violate the Offensive Domain and Referral Ad Policy
Company provides Services for thousands of domain names and Referral Ads and users all over the world. It is impossible for Company to monitor and verify every single domain name or Referral Ad and Company disavows any obligation to do so. For this reason, Company encourages you to report to Company any domain name you believe has been listed in violation of our Offensive Domain Name Policy. Inquiries should be sent to the “Contact Us” link on our Support Page. Please include the domain name and/or Ad and the date, time and location where you noticed the domain and or Ad.
Last Updated July 7, 2023.