Policies and Procedures

Help Scout’s Acceptable Use Policy (effective as of May 2026).

This Help Scout Acceptable Use Policy (this ”Acceptable Use Policy” or ”AUP”) forms part of, and is incorporated by reference into, the Help Scout Terms of Service (the ”Terms”). To the extent of any actual conflict between this Acceptable Use Policy and the Terms, the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy shall control, unless otherwise expressly provided. Capitalized terms used herein but not defined herein will have the respective meanings given to such terms in the Terms. This Acceptable Use Policy is not to be construed as legal advice or superseding any Applicable Laws. Help Scout encourages customers to seek legal counsel for all associated compliance considerations.

1. Proper Use

Customer shall, and shall ensure that all users of the Help Scout Service, comply with this Acceptable Use Policy and the Terms. Help Scout may deny Customer or any user use of or access to the Help Scout Service as may be required by Help Scout to effectuate its rights and obligations under or otherwise enforce this Acceptable Use Policy or the Terms. Help Scout shall use commercially reasonable efforts to give Customer advance notice of any denial of such use or access, if practicable. Help Scout shall not be responsible or liable for any use of or access to the Help Scout Service by Customer or any user that violates the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy.

2. Restrictions

2.1 General Restrictions

Customer may not use, or encourage, promote, facilitate, or instruct others to use, the Help Scout Service for any illegal, harmful, or offensive use, or to transmit, store, display, distribute, or otherwise make available content that is illegal, harmful, or offensive. Without limiting the foregoing, Customer understands, acknowledges, and agrees that Customer shall not, and Customer shall not permit any third party to:

1. Violate Applicable Laws. Use the Help Scout Service for purposes of violating any applicable local, state, provincial, national, or international law, treaty, or regulation, or any order of a court.
2. Distribute Malicious Code. Distribute any virus, time bomb, trap door, malware, Trojan horse, spyware, worm, or other harmful, disruptive, or malicious computer code, mechanism, or program.
3. Engage in Deceptive Practices. Engage in deceptive practices such as phishing, pharming, fraud, forgery, or misappropriation of funds, credit cards, or personal information.
4. Infringe Intellectual Property Rights. Infringe or violate the rights of any other party, including without limitation any intellectual property rights, including copyright laws, trade secrets, trademarks, or rights of privacy or publicity.
5. Harm Minors. Harm minors in any way or use the Help Scout Service to collect, process, or store personal data pertaining to minors in violation of applicable laws, rules, and regulations.
6. Impersonate Others. Deliberately mislead anyone as to Customer's identity, impersonate another person or entity (including, but not limited to, Help Scout personnel), or falsely identify the source of any information, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent Customer's affiliation with a person or entity.
7. Obscure Notices. Cover or obscure any notice, legend, warning, or banner contained on the Help Scout Service, or remove Help Scout's or its licensors' legends and notices.
8. Circumvent Security Features. Interfere with or circumvent any security feature of the Help Scout Service or any feature that restricts or enforces limitations on use of or access to the Help Scout Service, including: (i) hacking, cracking into, or otherwise using the non-public areas of the Help Scout Service or any other system without authorization; (ii) unauthorized probes, port scans for vulnerabilities, penetration tests, or traffic that circumvents authentication systems; (iii) unauthorized network monitoring or packet capture; (iv) forged or non-standard protocol headers, such as altering source addresses; or (v) operating network services such as open proxies, open mail relays, or open, recursive domain name servers.
9. Competitive Purposes. Develop or build a competitive product or service, or reverse engineer, decompile, adapt, modify, or attempt to reconstruct or discover any source code or algorithms of the Help Scout Service, or any portion thereof, by any means whatsoever.
10. Improper Use. Use the Help Scout Service for any purpose other than its intended purpose, including: (i) creating or maintaining more than 25,000 Tags in relation to Customer's conversations (a "Tag" is a brief set of text that can be added to conversations to add context or assist in keeping track of certain topics in Customer's Inbox); (ii) allowing more than 10,000 Open Conversations to remain active or pending; or (iii) maintaining Mailboxes with a conversation/reply ratio of 1% or less.
11. Distribute Offensive or Harmful Materials. Make available any content or engage in conduct that:
    1. is unlawful, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, pornographic, indecent, or racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable;
    2. violates, or encourages any conduct that would violate, any applicable law or would give rise to civil liability;
    3. promotes discrimination, bigotry, racism, hatred, harassment, or harm against any individual or group;
    4. is violent, threatening, harassing, abusive, slanderous, hateful, or promotes violence or actions that are threatening to any other person, or causes embarrassment to any other person as determined by Help Scout in its sole discretion; or
    5. promotes illegal or harmful activities, including gambling.
12. Interfere with Service. Use the Help Scout Service in a manner that interferes with any other party's (e.g., another user's) ability to use and enjoy the Help Scout Service, that interferes with Help Scout's or its service partners' ability to provide the Help Scout Service, or that otherwise may create legal liability for Help Scout or its service partners in Help Scout's sole discretion, including: (i) flooding; (ii) Denial of Service (DoS) attacks of any kind; or (iii) making network connections to any users, hosts, or networks unless Customer has permission to communicate with them.
13. Export Violations. Export, re-export, or transfer restricted software, algorithms, or other data in violation of applicable export control laws.
14. Stalking or Harassment. Stalk or otherwise harass any person or entity.

2.2 Deletion of Content

Help Scout, in its sole discretion, may delete or remove any content used in connection with the Help Scout Service which violates the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy.

3. Unsolicited Messages; Email And Communications Compliance

3.1 Prohibition on Spam and Unsolicited Messages

Customer may not use the Help Scout Service in any way, directly or indirectly, to send, transmit, handle, distribute, or deliver:

1. Unsolicited email ("**spam**" or "**spamming**") or commercial electronic messages in violation of the U.S. Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM Act), EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation, or any other applicable marketing laws, rules, or regulations;
2. Email to an address obtained via Internet harvesting methods or any surreptitious methods (e.g., scraping or harvesting);
3. Email to an address that is incomplete, inaccurate and/or not updated for all applicable opt-out notifications, using best efforts and best practices in the industry;
4. Pyramid schemes or chain letters;
5. Unwanted telemarketing, promotional, or informational messages without having procured the necessary consents, authorizations, rights, and licenses from the recipient(s) of Customer's messages; or
6. Messages in violation of the U.S. National Do Not Call Registry or related considerations under applicable law.

3.2 Opt-Out and Unsubscribe Requirements

Customer warrants that Customer will promptly comply with all opt-out, unsubscribe, “do not call,” “STOP,” and “do not send” requests from users and recipients of Customer’s emails and other communications. Customer further warrants that each email Customer sends or which is sent on Customer’s behalf using the Help Scout Service will contain:

1. Header information that is not false or misleading and that accurately identifies the sender; and
2. A clear and conspicuous notice that the recipient may unsubscribe, opt-out, or otherwise demand that use of its information for unsolicited, impermissible, and/or inappropriate communications as described in this Acceptable Use Policy be stopped, and must clearly indicate how the recipient can notify Customer that it wants to unsubscribe, opt-out, or stop this use of its information.

These requirements may not apply if the email concerned is strictly transactional in nature and/or these requirements are otherwise subject to a legal exception under applicable law.

Customer shall not alter or obscure mail headers or assume the identity of a sender without the explicit permission of that sender.

3.3 Consent and Authorization

Customer shall not harvest, collect, gather, or assemble information or data of users, including email addresses, without their consent. Customer is solely responsible for obtaining all necessary and appropriate rights, licenses, authorizations, and consents from those persons and entities with whom Customer messages or otherwise communicates with via the Help Scout Service, prior to commencing any such messaging or communication. Customer represents and warrants that for each recipient that Customer contacts via the Help Scout Service Customer has obtained the appropriate consent, opt-in, and authorizations of the recipient to be contacted.

4. Account Termination

Help Scout may terminate Customer’s account if any of Customer’s Inboxes have a conversation to reply ratio of 1% or less, or if Customer violates any provision of this Acceptable Use Policy or the Terms.

5. Customer Responsibility And Indemnification

Customer acknowledges that the Help Scout Service is a passive conduit for the distribution and transmission of Customer’s content to Customer’s customers and other third parties. Customer will be liable for any loss or damage incurred due to any content, including any errors or omissions or any defamatory, discriminatory, malicious, deceptive, libelous, or unlawful content in any transmission thereof, or for any loss or damage incurred as a result of the use of any content sent, accessed, posted, or otherwise transmitted via the Help Scout Service. Customer will be liable for, and shall pay for, any fines, penalties, fees, and surcharges imposed by service providers as a result of Customer’s use of the Help Scout Service.

6. Changes To This Acceptable Use Policy

This Acceptable Use Policy is subject to occasional revision at the sole discretion of Help Scout. Help Scout will take reasonable steps to notify Customer of any material changes or modifications to this Acceptable Use Policy by way of prominent notice on Help Scout’s website or by email, but Customer agrees to review the Help Scout website periodically to be aware of any changes or modifications to this Acceptable Use Policy. If Customer does not agree to the changes in this Acceptable Use Policy, Customer must discontinue use of the Help Scout Service. Customer’s continued use of the Help Scout Service shall be deemed Customer’s conclusive acceptance of any such changes or modifications to this Acceptable Use Policy.