Acceptable use policy

This policy is part of the API terms of service. It says what may not be sent through the Watermark API or done with it. We apply it to every account, including the files a request fetches from a URL or reads from a connected bucket, and to the products built on the API.

Version 2026-10-15 · Last updated: October 15, 2026

Content you may not process

Do not send, fetch or produce through the API:

• sexual content involving minors, in any form, or content that sexualises minors;
• content that you do not have the right to process: another person's work, likeness or private images without the permission the law requires, or files obtained by breaking into a system or a service;
• intimate images of a person who has not agreed to their use;
• content made to defraud, impersonate or deceive, such as forged documents, fake receipts or fabricated evidence;
• content that incites violence or hatred against people for who they are, or that threatens or harasses a person;
• malware, or files crafted to exploit the API or the software it runs.

Uses that are not allowed

• Removing other people's marks. Do not use the API to remove, cover, crop out or obscure a watermark, a credit, a signature or rights-management information from a work you do not own or have permission to alter. The API adds watermarks; using its operations to defeat someone else's is not allowed.
• Fetching what you may not fetch. A source URL must point to a file you are allowed to download for this purpose. Do not use the API to scrape sites that forbid it, to bypass paywalls or access controls, or to reach servers that are not public.
• Sharing keys or dodging limits. Do not share a key between unrelated applications or customers, open several accounts to multiply free credit or limits, or spread one workload over many keys or accounts to get around a limit. Ask us for a higher limit instead.
• Misusing test keys. Test keys are for development. Do not use them to process files for customers or in production.
• Attacking the API. Do not probe, scan or test the API or its infrastructure for weaknesses without our written agreement, send requests designed to make it fail or to run up our costs, or interfere with other accounts' use of it. If you find a security problem, tell us at support@watermark.ws and give us time to fix it.
• Webhooks and destinations you do not control. A webhook URL, a presigned destination URL and a connected bucket must be yours or your customer's. Do not point them at servers that have not agreed to receive the traffic.
• Reselling raw access. Do not offer the API itself as your product, pass requests straight through under your key for anyone who asks, or present our API as your own. Products that use the API as part of something you built are welcome.
• Breaking the law. Do not use the API in a way that breaks the law where you are, where your users are, or in Canada, including sanctions and export laws.
• Anything else we judge harmful. This list cannot name everything. Do not use the API in a way that we reasonably consider harmful to the API, to us, to other accounts or to anyone else, even if nothing above names it.

Automated use and agents

Software, including AI agents, may call the API on your behalf, within your limits and under your key. You are responsible for what it sends. An agent must not be used to work around this policy, for example by splitting a forbidden task into pieces that each look harmless.

What we do

We do not review files before processing them. We act when we find a problem ourselves, when a request fails in a way that points to one, or when someone reports one. We decide whether something breaks this policy, and our decision is final. Depending on what we find, we may delete the content, refuse requests of a kind, suspend a key or an account, or close the account, as the terms describe, with or without notice. Where the law requires it, we report illegal content to the authorities.

If your account has been suspended under this policy and you believe we got it wrong, write to support@watermark.ws from the account's email address.

Reporting abuse

To report content or a use of the API that breaks this policy, email support@watermark.ws with the request id, file id or download link, and what the problem is. We answer every report.