This Invalid Traffic Policy (“Policy”) defines what MailAdx treats as invalid traffic (“IVT”), how we detect and filter it, and how it affects advertiser billing and publisher payouts. It is incorporated into and forms part of our Terms of Service, our Advertising Policy, and our Monetisation Policy.
Effective date: July 12, 2026 | Last updated: July 12, 2026
1. Purpose and standards
Advertisers should pay only for genuine human attention, and Publishers should be paid only for genuine human audiences. MailAdx aligns its invalid-traffic classification with recognized industry frameworks, including the Media Rating Council (MRC) Invalid Traffic Detection and Filtration Guidelines, the IAB/ABC International Spiders & Bots List, and Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) anti-fraud principles, adapted to the specifics of open-time email ad serving.
2. What counts as invalid traffic
Consistent with MRC guidance, we classify IVT in two tiers. Both tiers are non-billable and non-payable.
2.1 General invalid traffic (GIVT)
Traffic identifiable through routine list-based and parameter checks, including:
- Known crawlers, spiders, and bots on the IAB/ABC International Spiders & Bots List, and other declared non-human user agents.
- Data-center and hosting-provider traffic that does not represent an email client operated by a person.
- Machine-generated opens: proxy prefetch and pre-render fetches such as Apple Mail Privacy Protection prefetch and similar email-client or gateway prefetching, classified by our machine-open heuristics.
- Security-scanner activity: corporate link-protection and anti-phishing systems that fetch display or click URLs before or without a human open (bot clicks).
- Duplicate or malformed beacon requests, out-of-order events, and activity-based anomalies such as physically impossible open frequencies from a single source.
2.2 Sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT)
Traffic requiring advanced analytics or multi-signal analysis to identify, including:
- Botnets, emulators, and headless clients engineered to mimic human email opens or clicks.
- Hijacked devices or sessions, and malware-driven ad requests.
- Incentivized or coerced human traffic organized to inflate opens or clicks (click farms, paid-to-open schemes).
- List pollution designed to inflate impressions: seed, trap, or synthetic mailbox addresses generating systematic opens.
- Manipulated measurement: falsified subscriber hashes, replayed or fabricated conversion postbacks, spoofed geo or client signals, and cookie stuffing.
- Hidden or stacked ad rendering that produces impression fetches with no possibility of human exposure.
3. Detection and filtration
- Serve-time filtration. Known-invalid sources (GIVT) are filtered in real time at the ad server before an impression becomes billable. Filtered requests may still receive an ad response but are excluded from billing and payout counts.
- Post-serve analysis. We continuously analyze delivered traffic for SIVT patterns using statistical, behavioral, and network-level signals. Specific detection signals are confidential to preserve their effectiveness.
- Reclassification. Impressions and clicks initially counted as valid may later be reclassified as IVT during the reconciliation window described in Section 4.
4. Effect on advertiser billing
- Advertisers are not billed for traffic filtered as GIVT at serve time; it never enters billable counts.
- Where post-serve analysis reclassifies traffic as IVT within 30 days of the end of the calendar month in which it was served (the “Reconciliation Window”), the associated spend is credited back to the advertiser's wallet.
- IVT credits are issued as wallet credits, not cash refunds, unless required by law or agreed in an order form.
- Advertisers must raise suspected-IVT disputes in good faith within the Reconciliation Window, with supporting data. Reports from third-party measurement vendors are considered where the vendor's methodology is MRC-accredited or otherwise transparent; MailAdx measurement remains the billing system of record.
5. Effect on publisher payouts
- Earnings are calculated only on traffic that passes filtration; IVT never accrues earnings.
- Earnings attributable to traffic reclassified as IVT within the Reconciliation Window are reversed. If already paid, we may offset the amount against future payouts or invoice the Publisher for repayment (clawback).
- We may withhold payouts, in whole or in part, while investigating anomalous traffic in good faith. Withheld amounts attributable to valid traffic are released promptly once cleared.
- Publishers whose traffic shows sustained elevated IVT rates may have inventory limited, demand restricted, or accounts suspended, independent of intent.
6. Participant obligations
- Do not generate, purchase, or knowingly benefit from invalid traffic, and do not attempt to probe, reverse engineer, or evade MailAdx filtration.
- Publishers must maintain list hygiene (opt-in acquisition, bounce and trap-address management) and accurate inventory declarations.
- All parties must cooperate promptly with IVT investigations, including providing sending logs or acquisition-source information reasonably requested.
- Suspected fraud on the platform should be reported to trust@mailadx.com.
7. Enforcement
Depending on severity, evidence of intent, and history, enforcement ranges from traffic-level filtration (no account action) to earnings reversal, payout withholding, inventory or campaign suspension, and account termination under our Terms of Service. Deliberate fraud results in immediate termination, forfeiture of associated earnings to fund advertiser make-goods, and, where appropriate, referral to law enforcement and industry bodies.
Enforcement decisions may be appealed at policy@mailadx.com within 30 days with supporting evidence.
8. Measurement transparency
Dashboard and API reporting reflect filtered (valid) traffic. Our documented measurement methodology, including how machine opens are classified, is available in our Documentation. We review our filtration approach periodically against evolving MRC and TAG guidance.
9. Changes and contact
We may update this Policy as fraud techniques and industry standards evolve; material changes will be posted here with an updated effective date.
Questions: policy@mailadx.com | Fraud reports: trust@mailadx.com | Legal: legal@mailadx.com