Terms of Service & Acceptable Use Policy

SaaS Service Agreement & Acceptable Use Policy

Effective Date: October 07, 2026 | Version: 3.2

Important Legal Notice: Please read these Terms of Service carefully before utilizing FreeURLShort. By creating an account, generating a shortened link, connecting a custom domain, or accessing our REST API, you enter into a legally binding contract with FreeURLShort and agree to adhere strictly to our Zero-Tolerance Acceptable Use Policy.

1. Agreement to Terms & Eligibility

These Terms of Service govern your use of the FreeURLShort platform. Your data privacy is governed by our Privacy Policy and GDPR Rights Statement.

These Terms of Service ("Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement between you ("User", "Customer", or "You") and FreeURLShort ("we", "us", or "our"), governing your access to and use of our web portal, URL redirection network, dynamic QR code engine, and REST APIs (freeurlshort.com).

To use our services, you must be at least sixteen (16) years old and have the legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement in your jurisdiction. If you represent an organization, business entity, or agency, you warrant that you have full legal authority to bind that entity to these Terms.

2. User Accounts & Security

When you create an account, you must provide truthful, current, and complete registration information. You are solely responsible for:

• Maintaining the strict confidentiality of your account login credentials, passwords, and secret API tokens.
• All activities, link generations, and API transactions conducted under your credentials.
• Promptly notifying us at security@freeurlshort.com of any suspected unauthorized access or compromise of your account.

3. Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) — Zero-Tolerance Prohibitions

FreeURLShort is dedicated to maintaining a clean, trustworthy, and secure global link ecosystem. We enforce a Zero-Tolerance Policy against malicious and abusive activity. You expressly agree that you will NOT generate, distribute, or facilitate short links pointing to destination URLs that contain or promote:

Category	Prohibited Content / Activity	Enforcement Action
Malware & Cyber Threats	Ransomware, spyware, Trojans, keyloggers, viruses, drive-by downloads, exploit kits, or malicious browser extensions.	Immediate link termination, domain blacklisting, and permanent account ban.
Phishing & Social Engineering	Deceptive login pages impersonating banking institutions, cryptocurrency exchanges, social networks, or cloud providers to harvest credentials.	Immediate redirection nullification, reporting to Google Safe Browsing and PhishTank.
Spam & Deceptive Marketing	Unsolicited bulk email (UCE), SMS spam / smishing, deceptive click-fraud redirects, affiliate cloaking to bypass platform ad policies.	Link suspension, API rate-limit throttling, and review by Trust & Safety.
Illegal Goods & Dangerous Content	Illicit narcotics, unauthorized pharmaceuticals, unlicensed firearms, explosives, terrorism, or child sexual abuse material (CSAM).	Immediate referral to law enforcement agencies (including NCMEC), total account termination.
Intellectual Property Theft	Digital piracy, unauthorized warez, torrent hubs, counterfeit luxury items, or distribution of copyrighted media without licensing.	Immediate DMCA takedown fulfillment, repeatable offender suspension.
Technical Exploitation	Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, automated scraping, credential stuffing, or bypassing platform rate limits.	Permanent IP and firewall block, legal remedies pursued.

4. Proactive Threat Detection & Abuse Takedown Procedure

To report copyright infringement pursuant to Title 17, United States Code, Section 512, review the US Copyright Office DMCA guidelines. You may also report domain abuse under ICANN dispute policies.

To protect end-users and preserve the integrity of our redirection network, FreeURLShort utilizes automated intelligence and human verification systems:

• Automated Real-Time Inspection: All submitted destination URLs are automatically screened against global threat databases, including Google Safe Browsing API, PhishTank, and proprietary machine-learning heuristics.
• Immediate Redirection Nullification: If a shortened link is detected pointing to malicious content, our routing engine immediately revokes the redirection and replaces it with an explicit safety warning interstitial page.
• Community & Security Reporting: Anyone can report suspected malicious links directly to our dedicated abuse team at abuse@freeurlshort.com. Our Security Operations Center (SOC) investigates and resolves all verified abuse reports within two (2) hours.

5. Custom Branded Domains & DNS Delegation

When you connect a custom domain or subdomain (e.g., link.yourbrand.com) to your FreeURLShort account via CNAME record delegation:

• You affirm that you legally own or hold explicit licensed authority over the connected domain name.
• You are solely responsible for maintaining active domain registration, correct DNS settings, and complying with all applicable trademark laws.
• FreeURLShort automatically provisions and renews SSL/TLS certificates for delegated domains via automated certificate authorities. If you revoke DNS routing, SSL provisioning terminates automatically.
• We reserve the right to suspend any custom domain connection if the domain is flagged for phishing, malware, or trademark infringement by third-party authorities.

6. Subscriptions, Payments & Refund Policy

• Free Tier: FreeURLShort offers a robust free tier with generous link shortening, dynamic QR code generation, and standard analytics capabilities.
• Paid Subscriptions: Premium tiers provide enhanced quotas, advanced geo-targeting, branded custom domains, and increased API rate limits. Subscription fees are billed in advance on a recurring monthly or annual basis.
• Automatic Renewal & Cancellation: Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled before the renewal date through your Customer Dashboard. Cancellation prevents future billing; your account retains premium access through the end of the paid billing period.
• Refund Policy: Due to immediate digital provisioning of cloud infrastructure and API capacity, subscription fees are generally non-refundable except where required by statutory consumer law or in cases of substantiated technical platform failure.

7. REST API Usage Guidelines & Rate Limiting

Developers accessing our REST APIs must strictly comply with the following guidelines:

• API keys are strictly personal and must never be committed to public code repositories (e.g., GitHub, GitLab) or embedded in client-side client applications without proxying.
• You must respect all rate-limiting headers (X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, Retry-After). Exceeding rate limits will result in temporary HTTP 429 status responses. Deliberate attempts to circumvent rate limits via IP rotation will trigger account termination.
• API service is provided in accordance with our standard API documentation available at Developer Hub.

8. Intellectual Property & License Grants

• Platform Ownership: The FreeURLShort service, codebase, design tokens, logo, documentation, and user interfaces are the exclusive intellectual property of FreeURLShort and are protected by international copyright, trademark, and trade secret laws.
• Your Content: You retain complete intellectual property ownership of the destination URLs, marketing copy, and branded assets you upload or link through our platform. You grant FreeURLShort a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide license solely to store, route, display, and process your links to deliver the service.

9. Disclaimer of Warranties

EXCEPT WHERE EXPRESSLY PROVIDED OTHERWISE IN A SIGNED ENTERPRISE SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT (SLA), THE FREEURLSHORT SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS-IS" AND "AS-AVAILABLE" BASIS. WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE.

10. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL FREEURLSHORT, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, OR AFFILIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF (OR INABILITY TO USE) THE PLATFORM, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF ONE HUNDRED US DOLLARS ($100.00) OR THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO FREEURLSHORT IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.

11. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, United States, without regard to its conflict of law principles. Any legal suit, action, or proceeding arising out of or related to these Terms shall be instituted exclusively in the federal or state courts located in San Francisco County, California. You waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over you by such courts.

12. Modifications to Terms

We reserve the right to revise these Terms at any time to reflect product enhancements, security updates, or statutory legal obligations. When material revisions occur, we will notify registered users via email and update the "Effective Date" at the top of this document. Continued use of the platform after revised Terms become effective constitutes your full acceptance.

13. Contact Information

For questions or formal legal notices regarding these Terms, please contact our Legal Department: