09Contracts & legal
Acceptable use policy (AUP) and abuse explained
What is allowed on Nexthosting servers and websites – fair use, rules for game servers, email and bots, consequences of violations and how to report abuse.
In short
Use your products only for lawful purposes and in a way that does not affect other customers. Among other things, unlawful content, malware, spam, phishing and attacks on other systems are prohibited. “Unlimited traffic” means no volume limit, not permanent full load. In the event of violations, Nexthosting can restrict functions or suspend the service – with a statement of reasons and the chance to object.
Basic rules for all products
Section titled “Basic rules for all products”- Use all services only within the law and your contract.
- Keep your systems, plugins, mods and scripts secure and up to date, unless a managed service has been agreed.
- Keep access credentials, API keys and tokens safe.
- You are responsible for making sure that people you give access to – admins, moderators, friends – also comply with the AUP (AUP items 3 and 20).
What is prohibited
Section titled “What is prohibited”| Prohibited content (item 4) | Prohibited uses (item 5) |
|---|---|
| unlawful, criminal or fraudulent content | spam and unsolicited mass advertising |
| insults, incitement to hatred, extremism, glorification of violence | phishing sites, fake shops, scam sites |
| depictions of sexual abuse, endangering minors | brute force, port scans, exploit attempts without authorisation |
| infringement of copyright, trademark or personality rights | DDoS attacks, reflection and amplification attacks |
| malware, viruses, botnet components | botnets and command-and-control servers |
| violations of sanctions and export controls | open proxies, open relays, open DNS resolvers |
| IP spoofing, circumventing blocks and protective measures | |
| “bulletproof hosting” |
Fair use: what “unlimited traffic” means
Section titled “Fair use: what “unlimited traffic” means”“Unlimited” means: the data volume is not billed and not limited to a fixed amount. It does not mean the connection may be permanently fully loaded (AUP item 6).
- Normal and allowed: usual use for the product – including load peaks at server start, updates, events, backups or a migration.
- No longer fair: days of full load on the line, a public download, streaming or mirror platform, reselling the connection as a VPN or proxy, and permanent full load on CPU, RAM or disks on shared products (game servers, webspace, bot hosting, VPS).
- Dedicated servers: The hardware belongs to you alone and may be loaded permanently. Fair use only concerns the network connection there.
If Nexthosting finds use that is no longer fair, you are informed first and a solution is sought together, such as a more suitable product. Only if that does not help, or other customers are acutely affected, may throttling be applied temporarily. No additional traffic costs arise.
Special rules per product
Section titled “Special rules per product”| Product | Also applies |
|---|---|
| Game servers (item 8) | Only content, mods and maps you have the rights to. No cheat, hack or exploit infrastructure. Comply with the game publishers’ rules, including on licence keys and monetisation. No use as a proxy, VPN, file storage or for compute load unrelated to the game. |
| VPS, root and dedicated (item 7) | You administer it yourself: keep software licensed and up to date, close unnecessary ports, no default passwords. |
| Email (item 9) | Advertising only with consent and an unsubscribe link, no purchased address lists, no forged senders. Mailboxes are meant for normal correspondence, not mass sending. Sending can be limited. |
| Discord and other bots (item 10) | Comply with platform rules, no self-bots, no mass sending, no token stealers. Music bots only with the necessary rights. |
| Domains and DNS (item 11) | No phishing, no trademark infringement, no harmful redirects. |
| Storage and backups (item 12) | No illegal content, no malware, no unlawful download offers. This also applies to the data of a paused server. |
Only allowed with approval
Section titled “Only allowed with approval”These uses are only allowed after prior approval from Nexthosting in text form (item 13):
- cryptocurrency mining and similar compute loads,
- Tor exit nodes,
- VPN, proxy or anonymisation services offered publicly to others,
- security tests of other people’s systems (scans, penetration tests) – even when commissioned by the operator.
You do not need approval for VPN or proxy software for your own needs and those of your organisation.
What happens in the event of a violation
Section titled “What happens in the event of a violation”Depending on severity and repetition, Nexthosting can (item 17):
- ask you to stop the violation immediately,
- block individual functions, ports, services or content,
- temporarily isolate or suspend the affected systems,
- terminate the contract without notice for good cause,
- pass information to authorities or operators, as far as legally permitted or necessary.
Where possible, you are informed beforehand and given the chance to put things right. In case of acute danger, action can be taken immediately. A suspension does not release you from payment obligations if you are responsible for it.
Statement of reasons and objection
Section titled “Statement of reasons and objection”If Nexthosting blocks or removes content or restricts your account, you get a statement of reasons with the measure, scope, duration, facts, the rule violated and your options (item 18).
- Read the statement of reasons carefully.
- Object by ticket in the customer account or by email to abuse@nexthosting.net and set out your view.
- Nexthosting reviews the measure again and tells you the result. The legal route remains open to you.
At Nexthosting, a human decides on reports and measures concerning content. Only automatic protection systems such as DDoS protection filter individual traffic without individual review.
Reporting abuse
Section titled “Reporting abuse”If you see unlawful content or attacks coming from a server, website or domain at Nexthosting, report it – free of charge and without a customer account.
The reporting form under Art. 16 of the Digital Services Act.
- Choose the type of report
- Fundstelle (where found): exact address, IP with port, domain or server name
- What happens next: confirmation of receipt, review by a human, decision by email
- Send reportForm or abuse@nexthosting.net
- Confirmation of receiptwith a case number by email
- Reviewby a human
- Decisionby email, with possible remedies
- Form: nexthosting.net/abuse (link “Verstoß melden”, “report violation”, in the footer). Attach up to 3 files of at most 5 MB each as evidence.
- Email: abuse@nexthosting.net – also the point of contact for authorities and users under Art. 11 and 12 of the Digital Services Act, in German or English.
- For depictions of child sexual abuse: do not send images or videos and do not open the content again – the exact location is enough.
- If there is danger to life or limb, call the police first (emergency number 110 in Germany).
A detailed guide is in Reporting abuse. If the problem concerns your own server, support is responsible, not the abuse team.
Frequently asked questions
Section titled “Frequently asked questions”My server was suspended because of an abuse report. What now?
Section titled “My server was suspended because of an abuse report. What now?”Read the statement of reasons, fix the cause (for example a hacked plugin) and reply by ticket. You must help clear things up and take reasonable remedial action (item 15). A backdoor scan helps for game servers with suspicious addons.
May I run a proxy for players on my game server?
Section titled “May I run a proxy for players on my game server?”Game-related helper services belong with the game server. A general proxy or VPN is not allowed on a game server. A VPS is suitable for that – publicly offered proxy services need approval there.
Will I be named to the customer as the reporter?
Section titled “Will I be named to the customer as the reporter?”The affected customer is told the content of the report as far as needed for their response. Your name is only given if it cannot be avoided, for example in the case of infringement of intellectual property rights.