Written by Krisztián Stark
Key takeaways
- Illegal and misleading offers, adult and dating content, weapons, drugs, hate speech, malware, phishing and crypto mining are never advertised.
- Offers are also refused if they ask users to send money, give up credentials or sensitive data, break another platform's rules, or hide a referral link.
- Gambling is a conditional category: licensed operators only, lawful territories only, legal-age users only, reviewed case by case.
What does Sharklio not advertise?
Sharklio does not advertise illegal, misleading or fraudulent offers, “get rich quick” schemes, adult or dating content, weapons, drugs, hate speech, phishing, malware or cryptocurrency mining. Offers are also refused when they ask users to send money, crypto or gift cards, to hand over credentials or sensitive data, or to break the rules of another platform. Gambling is accepted only from licensed operators, under strict conditions.
These rules come from the advertiser section of our Terms of Service and our advertising rules, and they apply to every offer we run. Our team reviews every offer before it goes live and checks it against this list. This guide turns the rules into one list, explains the reason behind each, and suggests what to promote instead.
Why Sharklio has prohibited categories
An offer on the offerwall is shown to real people inside a publisher’s website or app, and they are rewarded for completing it. That raises the stakes in three ways. Users act on the offer, so a harmful offer does real harm. Publishers put their own name next to the offerwall, so an offer that embarrasses them costs them their audience. And some users are as young as 16, the minimum age for the offerwall, so content that is fine for adults elsewhere does not belong here. Every offer is reviewed by our staff before it goes live, and the rules below are what reviewers check against.
Prohibited advertising categories: the full list
| Not allowed | Why | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Illegal goods or services, or offers that are unlawful anywhere they are targeted | The Terms require the promoted offering to be lawful in every territory targeted | Target only the countries where the offer is lawful |
| Misleading or fraudulent offers, deceptive financial schemes, and “get rich quick” offers | Users would act on false promises, and the Terms require advertising material to be accurate and not misleading | Promote a real product with a clear description of what the user gets |
| Adult content and dating | Offerwall users can be 16 or 17, and publishers must keep the wall away from adult content | Not accepted in any wording |
| Weapons | Listed as a prohibited category in the Terms | No alternative on Sharklio |
| Drugs | Listed in our advertising rules | No alternative on Sharklio |
| Hate speech | Listed in our advertising rules and banned as user content under the Terms | No alternative on Sharklio |
| Malware, phishing and cryptocurrency mining | Advertising material must contain no malware or deceptive functionality, and users must be safe on the page they open | Promote legitimate software through its official page or store listing |
| Offers that require users to send money, crypto or gift cards | A reward offer should never cost the user money they send to someone else | Pay for a result on your side, such as a free sign-up or a first in-app goal |
| Offers that ask for account credentials, private keys, or sensitive personal or financial data the offer does not need | This data could be used to take over accounts or wallets | Ask only for what the conversion needs, such as an email address to sign up |
| Offers that break the terms of the platform users are sent to, such as fake engagement | Users would be breaking another service’s rules for a reward | Pay for an action on your own site or app, and let follows or joins happen on their own |
| Referral or affiliate links that pay per sign-up, without disclosure | Users should know when someone earns from their sign-up | Tell us it is a referral or affiliate link, so users can be told plainly |
| An offer link that downloads a file directly | Users should see a page before anything installs, not an .exe, .apk or .zip file | Link to your download page or the app store listing |
The Terms also rule out offers that breach the rules of our partners, and our team may decline, pause or remove an offer that breaches the Terms or the law even if it fits none of the rows above. When in doubt, describe your offer when you contact us, and our team will tell you whether it fits.
Gambling: allowed only under conditions
Gambling, betting and casino offers are not banned outright, but they are the most tightly controlled category. All four conditions must be met:
- The operator holds every license required in the territories the offer targets.
- Promoting gambling is lawful in those territories.
- The offer targets only people of legal gambling age and does not appeal to minors.
- The offer passes a case-by-case review, which may include a request for proof of license.
In practice, that means targeting only the countries your license covers and telling us which countries those are when we agree the offer. If one of the four conditions is missing, the offer cannot go live.
Offers that break another platform’s rules
This rule matters because the product itself is often fine. Paying for a follow, like, review or server join often breaks the rules of the platform where it happens, so we do not run offers built around them. Store ratings and reviews are a common example; Can you pay for app reviews? explains what the app stores allow. The alternative is almost always to pay for an action on your own property instead, such as a sign-up or an install your server can confirm.
What an offer may ask for, and what you may do with the data
An offer may ask users only for what the conversion needs: never passwords, login codes, private keys or recovery phrases, and no sensitive personal or financial data beyond what the offer itself requires. Data that reaches you through the offer has limits too: under the Terms, it may be used only to measure and improve that offer, never to identify individual users, build profiles of them, contact them outside the offer flow, or pass it to a data broker.
When the product is fine but the setup is not
Many offers that would break a rule only need a different setup, not a different product. The usual changes are to target only the countries where the offer is lawful or licensed, disclose a referral link, ask users for less data, or link to a page instead of a file. We sort these out with you when we agree the offer, before it goes to review.
Illustrative case: a game install with a direct download link
A studio wants to promote its PC game with a link that points straight at the installer file. That link cannot run on the offerwall, so the offer uses the game’s store page instead, and a conversion counts when the player reaches the first level, confirmed by the studio’s postback. Nothing about the product changed; only the path to it did.
The rules keep applying after an offer goes live. Our team can pause or remove a live offer that starts breaking them, for example because its landing page changed, and breaches of the Terms can lead to the suspension or closure of the account.
A quick checklist before you contact us
- The product is legal in every country you want to target.
- Nothing about the offer is adult, dating, weapons, drugs or hate speech related.
- The user never sends money, crypto or gift cards, and never gives up a password, key or recovery phrase.
- The conversion does not reward something the destination platform forbids, such as a follow, like or review.
- Any referral or affiliate link is disclosed.
- The offer link opens a page, not a file download.
- For gambling: your license covers every country you want to target.
Have an offer that fits these rules?
Advertising on Sharklio runs through custom integrations. We agree the offer, the payout per conversion, the target countries and the tracking with you, our team reviews the offer before it goes live, and you pay only for the conversions your postback confirms. Read more about advertising on Sharklio or contact us.
Frequently asked questions
Are gambling ads allowed on Sharklio?
Only from operators with every license required where they target, only where promoting gambling is lawful, only for people of legal gambling age, and after a case-by-case review that may include a request for proof of license.
Can I promote a dating app?
No. Adult and dating content is on the prohibited list in our advertising rules.
Can I pay users to follow my social media page?
Not if the platform forbids rewarded follows, which many do. Offers that break the rules of the platform users are sent to are not accepted. Pay for an action on your own site or app instead.
Are crypto offers allowed?
Cryptocurrency mining is prohibited, as is any offer that asks users to send crypto or give up private keys. Other crypto-related offers must still be lawful, accurate and not a deceptive financial scheme, and our team judges them at review like any other offer.
Can I promote an affiliate link?
Yes, if users are clearly told it is a referral or affiliate link. Undisclosed referral links are not accepted.
What happens if a live offer breaks the rules later?
Our team can pause or remove it, and it stops appearing on the offerwall.
