> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://formpaste.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Acceptable use & abuse screening

> How Formpaste screens deployment domains against threat-intelligence to keep the platform safe - and what to do if your form is paused in error.

Formpaste screens the website a form is deployed on against threat-intelligence to prevent the service from being used to relay email or host files on behalf of phishing, malware, scam, or otherwise abusive or illegal sites. This protects the platform's email-sending reputation and keeps Formpaste within its infrastructure providers' acceptable-use policies - abuse by one account can otherwise harm every customer.

## How it works

* The domain a form actually submits from (its request origin) is checked against threat-intelligence the first time we see it, and the result is cached.
* A domain confirmed bad (a known phishing or malware match) causes the form to be **paused**: submissions are still accepted (visitors still see success), but they're held - nothing is emailed to the form owner, and any uploaded files are not downloadable. The **owner is notified** that the form is under review, with a way to appeal.
* Uncertain cases are queued for manual review; they do **not** pause the form.
* A clean domain is unaffected - screening is invisible to you and your visitors.

## Fail-open by design

If a threat-intelligence lookup itself fails (a network error, timeout, or rate limit), the domain is **not** paused. A lookup failure is never treated as a bad verdict - only a positive, known-bad match pauses a form.

<Note>
  This is the opposite of file virus-scanning, which fails **closed**. A domain lookup failure tells us nothing about the domain, so pausing on it would wrongly break legitimate forms - whereas an unscanned file could be genuinely dangerous, so it's held until it can be scanned.
</Note>

## If your form was paused in error

Legitimate sites are unblocked. If you believe your form was paused by mistake, **contact support** to have it reviewed.

Please don't deploy Formpaste forms on sites engaged in phishing, malware distribution, or other abusive or illegal activity - such forms are removed.

## Your visitors never see this

Screening never blocks a submission at the visitor's end: a visitor on any domain always gets a success response, so a paused form is never an oracle that reveals it's under review. The hold happens entirely on our side, between accepting the submission and delivering it.