Legal
Acceptable use policy
Brands run programs for lawful products. Partners promote honestly, always say they may be paid, and are paid for real sales only. Fraud anywhere removes you from the whole network.
Last updated:
1. About this policy
This policy is part of the terms of service and applies to everyone who uses ViralPayouts: brands, partners and recruiters. Each program can add its own rules in its program terms, but no program can allow what this policy forbids.
2. What brands may run a program for
Never allowed. Programs for:
- anything illegal where it is sold or promoted, including counterfeit goods and stolen data or accounts;
- weapons, explosives, controlled drugs and prescription medicines sold without a prescription;
- sexual content involving minors, or any content that sexualises or endangers children;
- schemes where people are paid mainly for recruiting others rather than for real sales to real customers (pyramid schemes), and products that promise guaranteed income;
- malware, spyware, hacking tools sold for misuse, and tools for spam or fake engagement;
- services that harass, defame or impersonate people, or deceive customers.
Allowed only with our written approval, after we check the brand holds any licence it needs and its marketing follows the rules for its industry:
- gambling and betting;
- trading, investment, crypto and financial products or education, including signals communities (no promised returns, and risk warnings where the law requires them);
- alcohol, tobacco, vaping and CBD;
- supplements and products that make health claims;
- adult content for adults only.
3. Sales, not sign-ups
Everyone on ViralPayouts is paid for real sales only. Partners earn commission on approved sales they refer; recruiters earn an override on approved sales their recruits make. Nobody is paid for signing people up, joining costs nothing, and there are two levels only. A recruiter must never tell anyone they will earn by recruiting alone, or ask a recruit to pay anything.
4. Disclosure: always say you may be paid
Partners and recruiters must make clear that they may earn from a link or code, every time, before the reader clicks or uses it. This is the law in most places, including the US FTC's Endorsement Guides and the UK's CAP Code and Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.
| Where | Good disclosure | Not enough |
|---|---|---|
| Video | Said out loud and shown on screen near the start: "I earn a commission if you buy through my link." | Only in the description, or only at the end |
| Social post | "#ad" or "Paid link" at the start of the caption, visible without clicking "more" | Hidden among hashtags, or "#sp" or "#collab" alone |
| Article or review | A sentence above the first link: "We earn a commission from some links on this page." | Only in the footer or a separate disclosure page |
| In the email itself, near the link | Only on your website | |
| Recruiting a partner | "I earn a share of what you earn from sales, at no cost to you." | Saying nothing about the override |
Reviews must reflect your honest, real experience. Fake reviews, reviews you were paid to write without saying so, and invented testimonials are banned.
5. How partners may promote
Each program sets its own rules for these traffic sources. If a program has not changed them, these defaults apply:
| Traffic source | Default |
|---|---|
| Content, reviews, video and social posts | Allowed |
| Email to the partner's own subscribers | Allowed |
| Paid ads on non-brand keywords, and paid social | Allowed |
| Paid search on the brand's name, misspellings or domain | Banned |
| Coupon and deal sites | Ask first |
| Cashback, loyalty and paid-to-sign-up rewards | Banned |
| Browser extensions | Banned |
Whatever a program allows, these are never allowed:
- Fake clicks, sales, leads or accounts; buying through your own link or code; paying people to buy and refund.
- Cookie stuffing, forced or hidden clicks, pop-unders, invisible frames, and software installed without clear consent.
- Email, text messages or direct messages to people who did not agree to hear from you, and messages that hide who sent them (CAN-SPAM, the UK PECR and similar laws apply).
- Misleading claims about a brand, its prices or results, including earnings claims that are not typical or not true.
- Pretending to be the brand, or using the brand's name or logo in a domain, profile name or ad in a way that makes people think you are the brand.
- Posting a coupon code the brand did not give you, or one meant for someone else.
- Promoting to anyone under 18 where the product is for adults only.
6. What brands must do
- Report sales and refunds truthfully and on time, and never hide a sale to avoid paying commission.
- Reject a sale only for a reason the program terms list.
- Make the claims partners may repeat true, and give them what they need to promote lawfully (for example required risk warnings).
- Never ask partners to break this policy.
7. Using the service itself
- No scraping, load testing, scanning or attacking the live service. To test, use a test network; to report a weakness, see Security.
- No getting around rate limits, sharing sign-ins, or reading data that is not yours.
- No using ViralPayouts to move money for anything other than real commissions, overrides and fees.
8. What happens when the rules are broken
| Breach | What happens |
|---|---|
| Minor, such as a missing disclosure | A warning and 7 days to fix it. Links keep working. |
| Serious, repeated, or a banned source used on purpose | Removed from the program. Commissions from the breach are reversed; the rest of the balance is held for up to 30 days while it is reviewed, then paid. |
| Fraud, or a product on the "never allowed" list | Removed from every program on ViralPayouts; a brand's programs are stopped. We may report crimes to the authorities. |
You can appeal within 14 days by replying to the email that told you. To report someone breaking this policy, email max@viralpayouts.com.