Report Abuse

How to report a site, server or mailbox hosted by Hostna that is being used unlawfully, and what we do with the report.

Anyone may report abuse — you do not need an account, and you do not need to be the injured party. This is the notice-and-action mechanism required by Art. 16 of the Digital Services Act.

Where to send it

Report form: At the end of this page — it asks for exactly what a valid Art. 16 notice needs, confirms receipt immediately, and gives you a reference number.
Abuse and unlawful content: abuse@hostna.com
Authorities and points of contact under Art. 11 and 12 DSA: abuse@hostna.com — accepted in German and English
Security vulnerabilities: security.txt — RFC 9116
Post: KAUFEX, Ziegelstr. 32b, 32105 Bad Salzuflen, Germany

If a child is in danger, or you have found material depicting the sexual abuse of a child, contact the police on 110 first. Then send us the URL. We act on that category immediately, at any hour, and we preserve the evidence for the Bundeskriminalamt.

What a usable report contains

A report can only be acted on if we can find what you saw. The most valuable thing you can give us is the exact address — the full URL of the page, or the IP address and the timestamp with a time zone for a mail or a network event. Add:

a sufficiently substantiated explanation of why the content is unlawful, or which of our Acceptable Use Policy rules it breaks;
for spam or phishing mail, the complete headers — not a screenshot and not the visible text alone;
for copyright, identification of the protected work and a statement that you hold the rights or act for the rightsholder;
your name and email address, so we can confirm receipt and come back with the outcome. Reports of child sexual abuse material may be made anonymously;
a statement in good faith that the information in your report is accurate and complete.

A report meeting these points gives us actual knowledge within the meaning of Art. 6 DSA. A vague complaint without a locatable target does not, and we will have to ask.

What happens next

We confirm receipt without undue delay, to the address you gave, with a reference number you can quote later.
We check the report against the law and the Acceptable Use Policy, and against the content itself.
We act in proportion to what we find: asking the customer to remove it within a stated period, disabling the specific content, suspending the service, or terminating the account. Serious or ongoing harm is stopped first and discussed afterwards.
We tell you the outcome, and we give the customer a statement of reasons under Art. 17 DSA — what was restricted, why, on what facts, whether automation was involved, and how to contest it.
Where the matter is criminal we report it to the competent authority and preserve the evidence.

Ordinary reports are reviewed within one working day. Phishing, malware and active attacks are handled the same day. Child sexual abuse material is handled immediately.

Decisions by a person, not a filter

Automated systems flag suspicious activity — outbound spam, mining signatures, known malware hashes, sudden traffic anomalies — but the decision to restrict content or an account is taken by a person who has looked at it. We do not use automated content moderation to terminate accounts.

Misuse of this mechanism

Reports that are manifestly unfounded and are filed repeatedly are suspended after a warning, as Art. 23 DSA permits. Deliberately false reports made to damage a competitor are treated accordingly.

If you are the customer being reported

You receive the statement of reasons at the email address on your account. To contest it, reply from that address with the reference number. We review the decision and, where it was wrong, reverse it and credit the affected time. There is no review for child sexual abuse material.

Not the right channel for

account, billing or technical questions about your own service — open a ticket in the Client Area, where your contract context is;
requests to identify a customer — those come from a competent authority, in the proper form;
general contact — use the contact page.

ABUSE REPORT — ART. 16 DSA

Report a Hostna-hosted service.

Give us the exact address and what you observed. This form carries everything a valid notice under Art. 16 DSA needs; receipt is confirmed immediately with a reference number. Reports of child sexual abuse material may instead be sent anonymously by email.

Your message is recorded, not just emailed
We reply to the address you enter here
Account-specific requests belong in the Client Area

Your name

Email address

Type of abuse

Exact address (full URL, or IP + timestamp with time zone)

Why is this unlawful or against the Acceptable Use Policy?

For copyright/trademark reports: I hold the rights concerned or act on behalf of the rightsholder.

I declare in good faith that the information in this report is accurate and complete (Art. 16 (2) (d) DSA).