Prohibited traffic is any traffic source or method that an advertiser's offer terms, a network's rules, or an ad platform's policies explicitly disallow for a given campaign.
Definition
Prohibited traffic is any traffic source or method that an advertiser's offer terms, a network's rules, or an ad platform's policies explicitly disallow for a given campaign. Common examples in iGaming and affiliate marketing include incentivised traffic, bot and fraudulent traffic, traffic from countries not on the allowed-GEO list, brand-bidding on the advertiser's own trademarks in paid search, adult or illegal-content placements, misleading or non-compliant creatives, cookie stuffing, and spam email or SMS.
What is prohibited varies by offer, so a source that is fine for one campaign can be banned for another.
Sending prohibited traffic voids the conversions it produces and can trigger clawbacks, a withheld payout for the period, or termination of the affiliate relationship, depending on severity and whether it appears deliberate. Because the definition lives in the offer terms and the network agreement, disputes usually turn on whether the restriction was clearly stated in writing before the affiliate scaled.
In context
For an affiliate, avoiding prohibited traffic starts with reading the offer terms carefully and asking the affiliate manager to confirm anything ambiguous in writing — which sources are allowed, whether brand keywords are permitted, which GEOs and devices, whether pop and redirect traffic is acceptable. It continues with keeping the traffic mix consistent between the test batch and the scaled campaign, because a source that was a small fraction in testing and becomes dominant at scale can move the campaign into prohibited territory.
For an advertiser, a clear prohibited-traffic policy protects margin and licence compliance, but it works best when it is specific and communicated up front rather than used as a retroactive reason to withhold payment. The strongest programmes publish an explicit list, give feedback when a source is borderline, and reserve termination for clear, evidenced, deliberate breaches.
The term is a standard section heading in affiliate agreements, and understanding exactly what it covers for a given offer is a prerequisite for scaling that offer safely.
Worked example
An offer's terms prohibit incentivised traffic, brand-keyword bidding, and traffic from a list of ten countries. An affiliate scales a source that turns out to include an offerwall placement, pushing incentivised traffic from 2% of the mix to 25%.
The advertiser rejects the affected conversions under the prohibited-traffic clause; the affiliate removes the placement and the rest of the batch is paid.
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