At Epik, your safety is our priority. When we receive reports of harmful website content, we take them seriously. We’re committed to addressing these issues head-on, and doing our part to make the internet a safer place for everyone.
We also recognize how crucial your domain is to your business or brand. That’s why we’re equally dedicated to transparency and communication when addressing reports filed against customer domains.
Here’s what to know about our abuse investigation process, what happens to the reports you send, and the steps we take if a complaint is filed against your domain.
How we receive abuse reports
We rely on reports from you and others to help ensure that Epik’s hosted domains and websites remain safe and welcoming spaces.
Most abuse reports are directed to our abuse inbox, abuse@epik.com. Epik has a dedicated team that is empowered to review and take action on complaints, with a leadership group providing oversight.
We read every email we receive, and legitimate reports of abuse receive an acknowledgment within one business day. It’s important to note that after our initial response, we might not be able to share additional details—even in cases where (and sometimes because) we’re taking action.
If you send us a report, we’ll often require more information, and we’ll reach out to you. When in doubt, we will always err on the side of asking for more details, rather than dismissing what could be a valid complaint.
How we act on valid reports
The severity of reported content guides our response and actions against abuse. Our goal is to address issues without terminating a customer’s account, but unfortunately it’s sometimes necessary. Below is an outline of our approach to handling abuse reports.
Minor infractions – a warning
If a report is valid but not severe or posing imminent harm, and it is the domain owner’s first offense, Epik will issue a warning. We’ll send an email to the appropriate contact, asking them to take action by removing or modifying the content—and giving them at least 5 business days to do so. We’ll also caution them that repeated incidents could lead to a suspension of their account or domain(s) until the issue is resolved.
If the content clearly violates law or policy, we may give the domain owner fewer than 5 days to address the issue, especially if removing the content is the solution.
Major infractions – immediate suspension of domain
In some cases, we may suspend a domain immediately until the issue is resolved. Note that suspension isn’t termination—it’s a temporary measure to prevent harmful content from being displayed while it’s being taken down.
During this time, we’ll maintain close contact with the domain owner, and will emphasize that removing the abusive content will lead to reinstatement of their domain. Our aim is to suspend only the web functions of the domain, while keeping email operational.
The suspension (typically 5 business days) allows sufficient time to address the content in question. If an offender requests an extension, we can generally accommodate the request—since the suspension prevents public access to the content in the meantime.
With every account suspension, we inform the customer that further violations could lead to termination without notice, or the chance to rectify the issue. We give first-time offenders the opportunity to remove reported content—but repeated violations may result in permanent account termination.
Unresolved major infractions – termination of account
If a customer’s account is suspended pending resolution, and no action is taken, the account may be terminated.
In some cases, we may allow the customer to transfer their domain name to another registrar—and will work with the customer to expedite the transfer process. However, if transferring the domain is not an option, we will let the customer know, and may proceed to delete or deactivate the domain at our discretion.
Safeguards
Account termination is a comprehensive, multi-step process, with safeguards throughout to ensure fairness.
The process is led by an internal Account Termination Panel, consisting of a diverse group of employees—who carefully review the record and make recommendations. If alternative remedies are proposed, they are carefully considered.
If the panel agrees that termination is necessary, our legal department notifies the customer, and we take steps to remove the domain from our platform. This final step includes several “last checks” and safeguards to prevent hasty or incorrect terminations of domains and sites.
Additionally, Epik follows all lawful orders from courts and law enforcement agencies to maintain compliance with our legal obligations.
Things we don’t allow on our websites
While this list is not exhaustive, here are some activities that are strictly prohibited by Epik’s Terms of Service.
We do not allow content that:
- Violates the laws, regulations, ordinances, or other such requirements of any applicable Federal, State, or local government and/or international laws or customary industry acceptable use standards;
- Promotes, encourages, or engages in child pornography or the exploitation of children;
- Promotes, encourages, engages, or displays cruelty to humans or animals;
- Promotes, encourages, or engages in terrorism, violence or hatred against people, animals, or property;
- Transmits any unsolicited commercial or bulk email, or engages in any activity known or considered to be spamming or mail bombing;
- Makes any illegal communication to any newsgroup, mailing list, chat facility, or another internet forum;
- Makes, attempts, or allows any unauthorized access to our website, servers, account, your own hosting account (if any), or the account of any other customers of Epik;
- Allows any remote code execution of malicious software through a hosting account or any APIs provided by us;
- Causes denial of service attacks, port scans, or other endangering and invasive procedures against our servers and facilities or the servers and facilities of other network hosts or Internet users;
- Infringes any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other proprietary rights of any third party information;
- Contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs designed to, or capable of, disrupting, damaging, or limiting the functionality of any software or hardware;
- Contains any kind of proxy server or other traffic relaying programs;
- Engages in or instigates actions that cause harm to Epik or other customers;
- Reverse engineers any API or attempts to use an API to obtain confidential information or circumvent an API in order to violate Epik restrictions;
- Violates the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 or similar legislation, or promote, encourage, or engage in the sale or distribution of prescription medication without a valid prescription;
- Violates the privacy or publicity rights of another user or any other person or entity, or breaches any duty of confidentiality that you owe to another user or any other person or entity.
Our Abuse Policy provides instructions on how to report abuse, and our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) offer detailed information on what is permissible. We regularly update these documents, and encourage you to review them often for updates.