Anti-Spam Policy

1. Overview

HostMeerkat operates hosting infrastructure that must remain safe, trusted, and reliable for all customers. Spam, phishing, spoofing, malware distribution, and abusive bulk messaging can damage server reputation, interrupt legitimate email delivery, and expose customers to security risks.

This Anti-Spam Policy forms part of our acceptable use standards. By using HostMeerkat services, you agree not to send, promote, host, relay, or facilitate unsolicited or abusive electronic communications.

2. Scope of This Policy

This policy applies to all HostMeerkat services, including shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS services, dedicated servers, mailboxes, SMTP services, web forms, scripts, applications, databases, DNS records, client portals, and any hosted content used to send or support electronic messages.

It applies whether messages are sent directly through HostMeerkat systems, through a third-party platform using a domain hosted with us, or from compromised websites, plugins, scripts, mailboxes, or user credentials.

3. Prohibited Email and Messaging Activity

You must not use our services for spam, unsolicited bulk email, misleading messages, phishing, malware delivery, credential theft, impersonation, fake invoices, abusive newsletters, or any messaging that breaches applicable law or damages network reputation.

• Sending email to recipients who have not given valid permission or where no lawful basis exists.
• Using purchased, scraped, harvested, rented, or third-party email lists without proper permission.
• Sending messages with false, misleading, forged, or hidden sender identity, headers, reply paths, or subject lines.
• Hosting landing pages, redirects, scripts, forms, or files used for phishing, malware, scams, or deceptive promotions.
• Using open relays, insecure contact forms, vulnerable CMS plugins, or compromised mailboxes to distribute unwanted mail.
• Continuing to contact people who have unsubscribed, objected, complained, or requested no further messages.

4. Permitted Email Use

Legitimate email use is allowed when it is relevant, transparent, lawful, and sent to recipients who reasonably expect to receive it. This includes service notifications, billing notices, order confirmations, password resets, support replies, customer communications, and properly permissioned marketing.

Marketing emails must clearly identify the sender, include accurate contact details, avoid deceptive wording, and provide a simple way for recipients to opt out or unsubscribe.

5. Bulk Email and Mailing List Rules

Customers sending newsletters, campaigns, or other bulk messages must use confirmed opt-in or another lawful permission model, maintain accurate consent records, honour unsubscribe requests quickly, and monitor complaints, bounces, and engagement.

High-volume bulk mail may require prior approval or a suitable dedicated email delivery platform. Shared hosting is not designed for aggressive outbound campaigns, cold email, lead-list marketing, or high-risk promotional mail.

6. Customer Responsibilities

You are responsible for all activity generated from your account, domains, websites, scripts, mailboxes, applications, and users. You must keep websites, CMS installations, themes, plugins, passwords, and email clients secure and up to date.

• Use strong passwords and enable additional security controls where available.
• Keep WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, WHMCS, plugins, themes, and custom scripts patched.
• Protect contact forms with validation, rate limits, captcha, or equivalent anti-abuse controls.
• Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC where appropriate to protect domain reputation.
• Remove inactive users, old scripts, abandoned test sites, and unnecessary mailboxes.

7. Compromised Accounts and Scripts

If spam is sent because of compromised credentials, malware, insecure scripts, outdated software, or abused web forms, we may treat it as a policy breach even if it was not intentional. Rapid containment is required to protect other customers and mail delivery reputation.

We may ask you to reset passwords, remove malware, update software, disable vulnerable scripts, review logs, clean mail queues, and confirm remediation before email access or hosting services are fully restored.

8. Monitoring and Abuse Signals

To protect our platform, we may review abuse complaints, bounce patterns, outbound mail volume, queue behaviour, blacklisting events, authentication failures, suspicious scripts, and security alerts. We do not use monitoring to read normal customer communications unnecessarily.

Where we detect unusual sending patterns or a potential threat, we may temporarily limit, queue, block, or suspend outbound email while the issue is investigated.

9. Enforcement Actions

HostMeerkat may take immediate action where spam, phishing, malware, network abuse, or reputation damage is suspected. Depending on severity, actions may include warnings, rate limits, SMTP restrictions, mailbox suspension, script disabling, domain suspension, account suspension, service termination, or refusal of future service.

Serious abuse, repeated violations, deliberate spam, phishing, fraud, malware, or failure to cooperate with remediation may result in termination without notice and without refund, subject to our service terms and applicable law.

10. Reporting Spam or Abuse

If you believe a HostMeerkat customer is sending spam, hosting a phishing page, distributing malware, or abusing our infrastructure, please report it with enough detail for investigation.

• Full email headers, not only the visible message body.
• The sender address, recipient address, date, time, and subject line.
• Any URLs, domains, IP addresses, screenshots, or error messages involved.
• A short explanation of why the activity appears abusive or unsolicited.

11. Legal and Regulatory Compliance

Customers must comply with all applicable anti-spam, privacy, consumer protection, and electronic communications rules that apply to their activity, including UK requirements for direct marketing, electronic mail, unsubscribe handling, identity transparency, and personal data use.

This policy is not legal advice. Customers are responsible for understanding the laws that apply to their own business, audience, mailing lists, and campaigns.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Anti-Spam Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, abuse controls, legal obligations, provider requirements, or industry best practice. The latest version will be posted on this page with an updated revision date.