This provision lists prohibited activities including automated scraping, excessive automated access, spam transmission, interference with system security, and any action that Writer determines, at its sole discretion, imposes an unreasonable load on its infrastructure.
This analysis describes what Writer'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
The provision grants Writer sole discretion to determine what constitutes an unreasonable or disproportionate load on its infrastructure, which creates an operationally uncertain standard for API and automated platform users. Violation of these terms can result in account suspension or termination as specified elsewhere in the agreement.
Interpretive note: The 'sole discretion' standard for infrastructure load determinations is subjective and the operational threshold is not defined in the document, creating interpretive uncertainty for API and automated platform users.
Expands prohibited conduct to explicitly address scraping, automated access, and bot activity, reflecting operational concerns not addressed in the previous generic content restrictions.
View full change record →Under this clause, users who engage in the listed prohibited activities, including conduct that Writer determines at its sole discretion to impose an unreasonable infrastructure load, may have their accounts suspended or terminated. Developers and API users should be aware that the infrastructure load standard is defined by Writer's unilateral assessment.
How other platforms handle this
You agree not to engage in any of the following prohibited activities: (i) copying, distributing, or disclosing any part of the Services in any medium; (ii) using any automated system, including 'robots,' 'spiders,' 'offline readers,' etc., to access the Services; (iii) transmitting spam, chain lett...
You agree not to post, upload, publish, submit or transmit any content that: (i) infringes, misappropriates or violates a third party's patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral rights or other intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy; (ii) violates, or encourages any ...
You agree not to engage in any of the following prohibited activities: (i) copying, distributing, or disclosing any part of the Service in any medium, including without limitation by any automated or non-automated 'scraping'; (ii) using any automated system, including without limitation 'robots,' 's...
Monitoring
Writer has changed this document before.
Receive same-day alerts, structured change summaries, and monitoring for up to 25 platforms.
"You agree not to engage in any of the following prohibited activities: (i) copying, distributing, or disclosing any part of the Services in any medium, including without limitation by any automated or non-automated 'scraping'; (ii) using any automated system, including without limitation 'robots,' 'spiders,' 'offline readers,' etc., to access the Services in a manner that sends more request messages to the Writer servers than a human can reasonably produce in the same period by using a conventional on-line web browser; (iii) transmitting spam, chain letters, or other unsolicited email; (iv) attempting to interfere with, compromise the system integrity or security or decipher any transmissions to or from the servers running the Services; (v) taking any action that imposes, or may impose at our sole discretion an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure.— Excerpt from Writer's Writer Terms of Service
(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: Acceptable use provisions in AI platform agreements are generally assessed under commercial contract law. Where prohibited conduct involves data scraping or unauthorized access, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and analogous state statutes may apply. The FTC Act is relevant if enforcement of acceptable use provisions is applied in a manner that is discriminatory or deceptive. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The 'sole discretion' standard for infrastructure load determinations creates operational uncertainty for enterprise customers and developers building on the Writer API, as service interruption or account suspension may occur without a clearly defined threshold. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: The CFAA's application to scraping and automated access has been subject to litigation, and the scope of prohibited automated access may be assessed differently under applicable law in various jurisdictions. EU users may have additional protections under data protection law if account suspension results in loss of access to personal data. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: API users and enterprise integrators should document their usage patterns to demonstrate compliance with acceptable use standards and should seek clarification from Writer on specific infrastructure load thresholds applicable to their deployment. Service level agreements should address the process for notifying users before account suspension for acceptable use violations. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Developers and enterprise API users should implement usage monitoring to ensure compliance with Writer's acceptable use standards. Internal API governance policies should reference Writer's prohibited conduct list and establish internal controls to prevent violations.
Full compliance analysis
Regulatory citations, enforcement risk, and due diligence action items.
Free: track 1 platform + weekly digest. Monitor: 25 platforms + same-day alerts. No credit card required.
Compliance Governance Intelligence
Need to monitor specific governance provisions?
Compliance includes provision-level monitoring, governance timelines, regulatory mapping, and audit-ready analysis.
Built from archived source documents, structured governance mappings, and historical version tracking.
The provision grants Writer sole discretion to determine what constitutes an unreasonable or disproportionate load on its infrastructure, which creates an operationally uncertain standard for API and automated platform users. Violation of these terms can result in account suspension or termination as specified elsewhere in the agreement.
Under this clause, users who engage in the listed prohibited activities, including conduct that Writer determines at its sole discretion to impose an unreasonable infrastructure load, may have their accounts suspended or terminated. Developers and API users should be aware that the infrastructure load standard is defined by Writer's unilateral assessment.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 8 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Writer.