Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

This English translation is provided for convenience only. In case of any discrepancy, the German version shall prevail.

As of: Oct 9, 2026

This Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) applies to all services of Friedl & Friedl GbR, acting under the name “Nexthosting” (“Nexthosting”, “we”), to the extent that customers or other users use services, systems or technical services of Nexthosting.

Point of contact under Art. 11 and Art. 12 Digital Services Act (DSA)

Central point of contact for authorities, users and DSA inquiries:
Email: [email protected]
Available languages: German, English

Reporting Unlawful Content / Abuse Reports

Reports concerning unlawful content, abuse, security incidents, spam, phishing, malware, copyright infringements or other legal violations may be sent to [email protected].

Reports can also be submitted via our report form (notice and action mechanism under Art. 16 DSA). Receipt is confirmed by e-mail with a case number.

1. Scope of Application

This AUP applies in particular to the use of:

• Game servers
• VPS servers
• Root and dedicated servers
• Web hosting and web space services, including mailboxes and the sending of e-mail
• Domains, DNS and redirect services
• Storage, backup, cloud storage and database services
• Discord bots and comparable bot services
• Public server pages, status banners and entries in the community list
• Customer portal, control panel, APIs and other administrative access
• Other digital, network-based or infrastructure services of Nexthosting

This policy supplements the contractual agreements, in particular the General Terms and Conditions of Nexthosting. Where individual agreements or mandatory statutory provisions conflict with it, those take precedence.

For individual additional features, the Terms for Add-ons and Additional Services apply in addition.

2. Purpose of This Policy

This policy serves to protect the security, stability, integrity and availability of Nexthosting's infrastructure, the systems of other customers and the rights of third parties, as well as to ensure compliance with applicable law.

Our services may be used only for lawful, contractually agreed and technically appropriate purposes. Any use that impairs or endangers our infrastructure, other customers, third parties or public safety is prohibited.

3. General Principles of Use

The Customer is obliged

• to use all Nexthosting services only within the framework of applicable laws, official requirements and contractual agreements,
• not to use any content, applications or processes that infringe third-party rights or impair the security and stability of the infrastructure,
• to keep the access credentials, API keys, tokens, passwords and other authentication features assigned to them secure,
• to keep their systems, applications, images, plugins, mods, scripts, containers, databases and other content secure and up to date on their own responsibility, unless an expressly agreed managed service exists,
• to ensure that third parties to whom they grant access to Nexthosting services also comply with this AUP.

Within the framework of the statutory and contractual provisions, the Customer is also liable for use via their customer account, their access credentials and the systems they provide, to the extent such use is attributable to them.

4. Prohibited Content

It is prohibited to store, process, execute, transmit, provide, distribute or make accessible, via Nexthosting services, content that:

• violates applicable law,
• contains criminal, fraudulent, misleading or deceptive content,
• is insulting, defamatory, extremist, incites hatred, is discriminatory or glorifies violence,
• concerns or promotes the sexual exploitation, abuse or endangerment of minors,
• is impermissible under youth protection law,
• infringes copyrights, trademarks, patents, name rights, competition rights, data protection rights, personality rights or other rights of third parties,
• contains or distributes malware, viruses, trojans, ransomware, spyware, botnet components, exploits, malicious scripts or comparable harmful routines,
• is used to carry out phishing, identity theft, social engineering, account takeovers or other fraudulent acts,
• violates embargoes, sanctions law, export control law or other foreign trade law restrictions.

5. Prohibited Technical Uses and Abuse of the Infrastructure

Any use of Nexthosting services that amounts to technical, security-related or operational abuse is prohibited. This includes in particular:

• sending or enabling spam, spam campaigns, mass unsolicited messages or unsolicited advertising,
• operating or supporting phishing infrastructure, fake login pages, fraudulent shops, scam sites or similar deceptive offerings,
• carrying out, enabling or supporting brute-force attacks, credential stuffing, port scans, unauthorized vulnerability scans, exploit attempts or unauthorized access attempts,
• DDoS attacks, reflection/amplification attacks, flooding, deliberate overloading of services or networks, and supporting such attacks,
• operating botnets, command-and-control infrastructure or anonymizing services, to the extent they are used abusively or unlawfully,
• improper use of open proxies, open relays, abusive redirects or similar configurations prone to abuse,
• circumventing technical restrictions, rate limits, access blocks, security mechanisms or protective measures,
• forging sender addresses (IP spoofing) and using IP addresses that have not been assigned to the Customer,
• operating openly reachable DNS resolvers or other services that can be misused for amplification attacks,
• uses that require approval under section 13, without that approval,
• any use that impairs or endangers the stability, performance, security or availability of Nexthosting's systems or those of third parties,
• any form of “bulletproof hosting” or any use that is deliberately aimed at circumventing legitimate abuse, security or law enforcement measures.

6. Fair Use: Traffic and Shared Resources

Where a product is offered with unlimited traffic, Nexthosting does not charge for the volume of data transferred and does not cap it at a fixed amount. Unlimited means: no volume limit and no additional cost. It does not mean that the connection may be used at full capacity permanently.

Use is fair as long as it stays within what is usual for the booked product and its purpose. Peaks in load are expressly part of this, for example when a server starts, during updates, events, backups or a migration.

Use is no longer fair where it takes up the connection or shared resources far above average over a longer period, or almost permanently in full, and may thereby impair other customers or operations. This includes in particular:

• data transfer that keeps the connection almost continuously at capacity for days,
• operation as a public download, streaming, mirror or file distribution platform, where the product is not offered for that purpose,
• passing on or reselling the connection to third parties as transit, VPN or proxy capacity,
• permanent full load on CPU, memory or storage for products whose resources are shared with other customers (in particular game servers, web space, cloud storage, bot hosting and VPS).

With dedicated servers, the booked hardware is available to the Customer alone. CPU, memory and storage may be used at full load permanently there; for these products, fair use concerns the network connection only.

If Nexthosting finds that use is no longer fair, we inform the Customer and look for a solution together, such as adjusting the use or a more suitable product. Only if this does not succeed, or if other customers are acutely impaired, may Nexthosting temporarily throttle the bandwidth or the resource concerned. No additional charges for traffic arise from this. Nexthosting's rights in cases of abuse under sections 16 and 17 remain unaffected.

Where the service description of a product states specific limits, these take precedence.

7. Special Rules for Hosting, VPS, Root and Dedicated Servers

Where the Customer is granted administrator, root, shell, panel, API, SFTP, database or comparable administrative rights, the Customer is in principle itself responsible for the environment it operates, unless a managed service has been expressly agreed.

In particular, the Customer must ensure that:

• only lawfully licensed and securely configured software is used,
• operating systems, applications, plugins, mods, libraries and frameworks are kept reasonably up to date,
• unnecessarily open ports, insecure services, default passwords and avoidable security vulnerabilities are avoided,
• logins, user permissions, keys and interfaces are managed in a restrictive and secure manner,
• its systems pose no danger to other systems, networks, services or users.

Nexthosting is not obliged to continuously and preventively review the content or technical state of systems administered by the Customer. However, we are entitled to take appropriate review and protective measures where there are indications of abuse, security incidents, complaints, anomalies or legal violations, to the extent legally permissible.

8. Special Rules for Game Servers and Community Services

For game servers, gaming communities and game-related services, the following also applies:

• The Customer may not use any content, mods, plugins, maps, scripts, add-ons or software for whose use or distribution they lack the necessary rights.
• The Customer may not operate infrastructure that promotes, distributes or automatically exploits cheats, hacks, exploits, circumvention of technical protection measures or other impermissible manipulation.
• The Customer must comply with the requirements of the respective game developer, publisher, platform operator or licensor. This includes any required license keys and server tokens as well as rules on monetizing a server.
• A game server is intended for running game servers within the booked plan, including the associated mods, plugins and auxiliary services. Use for applications unrelated to the game, such as a proxy, VPN, general file storage or computing loads unrelated to the game, is not permitted.
• The Customer remains responsible for content of their community, administrators, moderators and other co-users, to the extent that such use is attributable to them.
• Any use that systematically harms, sabotages or improperly burdens other players, platforms or third-party providers is prohibited.

For content that the Customer shows publicly via status banner, Discord status, server page or community list, section 4 of this AUP applies, and in addition the Terms for Add-ons and Additional Services.

9. Special Rules for E-Mail

For mailboxes and the sending of e-mail via Nexthosting services, the following also applies:

• Advertising and newsletters may only be sent to recipients who have consented or where sending is permitted by law. Every such message contains a simple way to unsubscribe.
• Purchased, rented or automatically harvested address lists may not be used.
• Sender details, headers and subject lines may not be forged or misleading.
• The mailboxes of a web space or WordPress package are intended for ordinary correspondence and the messages of the Customer's own website. Bulk mailing that clearly goes beyond this belongs with a sending service designed for it.
• If the Customer runs their own mail server on a VPS or dedicated server, they are responsible for its configuration. The server must not be reachable as an open relay.

To protect deliverability for all customers, Nexthosting may technically limit sending, for example the number of messages per period, and temporarily block conspicuous or compromised mailboxes. If an IP address ends up on a blocklist because of the Customer's use, the Customer cooperates in having it removed.

10. Special Rules for Discord Bots and Comparable Bot Services

For hosted bots, for example for Discord or TeamSpeak, the following also applies:

• The Customer complies with the terms of the respective platform, in particular its developer terms and terms of use.
• Bots that automate user accounts (so-called self-bots), send unsolicited mass messages, capture credentials or tokens, or serve to disrupt other servers are prohibited.
• Music and media bots may only play content for which the Customer holds the necessary rights.
• The Customer keeps the tokens and credentials of their bot secure and replaces them without delay if they have become known.
• A bot plan is intended for running the booked bot software, not for other applications.

11. Special Rules for Domains, DNS and Redirects

For domains, DNS services, subdomains, redirects and comparable services, the following is prohibited in particular:

• use for phishing, spoofing, or deception regarding brands or identities,
• registering or using domains in violation of designation, name, trademark or other rights of third parties,
• use for fraudulent landing pages, malware distribution, scam campaigns or harmful redirects,
• use of misleading or abusive DNS configurations that undermine third-party security mechanisms or facilitate attacks.

Before registering and using a domain, the Customer is obliged to check on their own responsibility whether third-party rights or other legal obstacles stand in the way.

12. Special Rules for Storage, Backup, Cloud and Database Services

Storage, backup, cloud storage, database or comparable services may not be used for:

• storing or distributing unlawful content,
• hosting malware or making harmful files available,
• mass distribution that infringes copyright, or unlawful mirror or download offerings,
• circumventing statutory obligations, abuse measures or blocks,
• high-risk or particularly sensitive processing without appropriate technical and organizational safeguards.

Where Nexthosting offers backup functions or snapshots, this does not release the Customer from making additional data backups on their own responsibility, unless expressly agreed otherwise.

If the Customer shares files or folders with third parties via share links, the Customer is responsible for the shared content. These rules also apply to the data of a paused server that Nexthosting keeps for the Customer.

13. Restricted Uses and Uses Requiring Approval

Certain uses of our services may be restricted, permitted only after separate approval, or prohibited entirely due to regulatory, technical, security-related or operational risks. These may include in particular activities that are especially prone to abuse, security-critical, high-risk or regulated across several areas of law.

Nexthosting reserves the right to review such uses on a case-by-case basis, to make them subject to additional evidence, to restrict them or to reject them where there are legitimate reasons relating to security, legal compliance, abuse prevention, infrastructure stability or requirements of payment service providers, data centers, registrars or other partners.

The following in particular are permitted only with Nexthosting's prior approval in text form:

• cryptomining and comparable computing loads for generating crypto assets,
• operating Tor exit nodes,
• VPN, proxy or anonymization services offered publicly to third parties,
• security testing of third-party systems (scans, penetration tests), even where the Customer has been commissioned by the operator of the tested system.

Using VPN or proxy software for the Customer's own needs and those of their organization remains permitted without approval. An approval may be subject to conditions and may be withdrawn for objective reasons.

14. Compliance with Laws, Third-Party Rights and Sanctions

The Customer is obliged to comply with all statutory provisions applicable to their use. This includes in particular:

• Criminal law
• Data protection law
• Copyright and trademark law
• Competition law
• Youth protection law
• Telecommunications and media law requirements
• Export control, embargo and sanctions law

It is prohibited to make Nexthosting services available to persons, organizations, states, regions or purposes to the extent that this violates applicable sanctions, embargo or export control regulations.

15. Reporting Abuse and Duties to Cooperate

The Customer is obliged to report to Nexthosting without delay any identified or suspected security incidents, compromises, unauthorized access, abuse cases or other significant disruptions.

If Nexthosting receives a complaint, abuse report or other indication of a violation, the Customer is obliged to cooperate in clarifying the matter, to provide the information required for the review within a reasonable period, and to implement reasonable remedial measures.

If the required cooperation is not provided, or if immediate action is necessary due to the severity, urgency, security situation or legal situation, Nexthosting is entitled to take immediate protective measures.

16. Nexthosting's Rights to Review, Monitor and Enforce

Nexthosting is not obliged to proactively monitor all content, data flows or usage in advance on a permanent basis. However, Nexthosting is entitled, to the extent legally permissible and objectively justified, to take technical and organizational measures to detect, review, limit and prevent abuse.

These may include in particular:

• reviewing incoming abuse complaints or notices from authorities,
• analyzing technical anomalies, security-relevant logs, network events or indicators of abuse,
• temporarily filtering, throttling, isolating or blocking traffic, services, ports, protocols or access,
• blocking, deactivating or removing unlawful content or compromised components,
• restricting, suspending or deactivating customer accounts, APIs, servers, domains, redirects or other services,
• requesting additional information or evidence from the Customer,
• fulfilling statutory obligations to provide information, report or cooperate with the competent authorities.

Where possible and reasonable, Nexthosting will inform the Customer before taking measures that adversely affect them and give them an opportunity to remedy the situation. This does not apply if immediate action is required for reasons of security, averting danger, infrastructure, abuse or law.

17. Consequences of Violations

In the event of violations of this AUP, Nexthosting is entitled, depending on severity, repetition and risk situation, to take the following measures in particular:

• notice, warning or request for immediate remedy,
• temporary restriction of individual functions or access,
• blocking of individual content, ports, processes, APIs, domains or services,
• temporary isolation or suspension of affected systems,
• immediate or extraordinary termination of the contractual relationship for good cause, provided the statutory and contractual requirements are met,
• disclosure of information to registries, upstream providers, data centers, game or platform operators or authorities, to the extent legally permissible or required,
• assertion of further statutory and contractual claims.

A block or suspension does not automatically release the Customer from existing payment obligations, to the extent that the measure is based on circumstances for which the Customer is responsible.

18. Statement of Reasons and Objection

If Nexthosting blocks or removes content, or restricts a service or a customer account, because content is unlawful or violates this AUP, we inform the affected Customer of the reasons. The notice states:

• the measure, its scope and, where foreseeable, its duration,
• the facts and circumstances on which the decision is based, and whether it follows a report,
• the legal provision or the rule of this AUP or of the General Terms and Conditions that was violated,
• the options available to the Customer to challenge the measure.

The notice is omitted only to the extent that the law provides for or permits this.

The Customer may object to a measure and present their view, by ticket in the customer portal or by e-mail to [email protected]. Nexthosting then reviews the measure again and informs the Customer of the result. Recourse to the courts remains unaffected.

At Nexthosting, a human decides on reports and on measures concerning content. Automatic protection systems, for example DDoS protection and web firewall, may filter or block individual traffic without a case-by-case review.

19. Reports and Complaints from Third Parties

Nexthosting takes reports of legal violations, abuse and security incidents seriously. Complaints should be sufficiently specific and should in particular include the service concerned, the matter complained of and, where possible, evidence or references.

Nexthosting reserves the right to reject complaints that are manifestly unfounded, abusive or insufficiently substantiated.

Nexthosting reviews reports in a timely, diligent and objective manner. Anyone who submits a report with contact details receives a confirmation of receipt and is informed of the decision.

20. Sub-Users and Co-Users

Where the Customer grants third parties, end users, employees, contractors, administrators, moderators, community members or other co-users access to Nexthosting services, the Customer remains responsible for ensuring that these persons comply with this AUP and the applicable statutory requirements, to the extent that their conduct is legally and factually attributable to the Customer.

21. Changes to This Policy

Nexthosting reserves the right to amend this AUP with effect for the future where this is necessary for objective reasons, in particular in the event of:

• changes in statutory or regulatory requirements,
• changes to the services offered,
• new security situations or forms of abuse,
• requirements of data centers, upstream providers, registrars, payment service providers or other partners.

The version published on the website from time to time is authoritative, unless stricter statutory or contractual requirements apply for effective incorporation.

22. Contact for Abuse and Security Reports

Nexthosting accepts reports of abuse, security incidents or legal violations via the report form and by e-mail to [email protected]. Customers may additionally open a ticket in the customer portal.