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The agreement prohibits users from facilitating illegal or harmful activity through the End User Services and from causing harm to Stripe or third parties through use of the services.
This analysis describes what Stripe's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision establishes a broad prohibition on facilitating illegal or harmful activity and extends user responsibility to preventing others from engaging in such conduct through their access, which may create liability exposure for users whose accounts are used by third parties.
Interpretive note: The terms 'harmful activity' and 'harm' are not defined in the document, leaving their scope subject to interpretation by Stripe or applicable courts.
Under this clause, users bear responsibility for ensuring their use of the End User Services does not facilitate illegal activity or cause harm to Stripe or others, and this obligation extends to preventing others from doing so through their access. The broad framing of 'harmful activity' is not defined in the document text.
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"You must not, and must not allow others to: Facilitate illegal or harmful activity through the End User Services; Cause harm to us or others through the End User Services.Excerpt from Stripe's Acceptable Use Policy
1. REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision may interact with anti-money laundering requirements, fraud prevention obligations, and general consumer protection law. In the financial services context, the prohibition on facilitating illegal activity may also engage Bank Secrecy Act requirements and applicable state financial services regulations. The FTC has authority over unfair or deceptive practices that could include facilitation of illegal schemes through payment platforms. 2. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The provision does not define 'harmful activity,' which creates interpretive ambiguity. Organizations or developers who integrate with Stripe's End User Services should assess whether downstream user conduct could create exposure under this clause. 3. JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU users may have additional protections under the Digital Services Act regarding platform liability for facilitating illegal content or activity. The scope of 'harm' may be interpreted differently across jurisdictions. 4. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: The extension of responsibility to 'allowing others' to engage in prohibited conduct may have implications for developers or partners who provide access to the End User Services to their own end users, potentially shifting liability upstream. 5. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Compliance teams should evaluate whether internal policies and controls are sufficient to prevent use of Stripe's End User Services in ways that could be characterized as facilitating illegal or harmful activity, and should ensure that any third-party access to these services is subject to equivalent restrictions.
Regulatory citations, enforcement risk, and due diligence action items.
Provision-level monitoring, governance timelines, and regulatory mapping built from archived source documents and historical version tracking.
This provision establishes a broad prohibition on facilitating illegal or harmful activity and extends user responsibility to preventing others from engaging in such conduct through their access, which may create liability exposure for users whose accounts are used by third parties.
Under this clause, users bear responsibility for ensuring their use of the End User Services does not facilitate illegal activity or cause harm to Stripe or others, and this obligation extends to preventing others from doing so through their access. The broad framing of 'harmful activity' is not defined in the document text.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Stripe.