We take several measures to ensure "bad apples" don't ruin the experience for our users. TorBox's abuse system is dynamic and changes based on the rolling 99th percentile's usage pattern. This article explains how it works and when it is enforced.
Defining abusive behaviour.
TorBox considers usage that falls outside of the 99th percentile as abnormal and applies scrutiny to accounts that automatically trigger our anti-abuse systems.
What does the abuse process look like?
The system will gather all of the users who have used over the "checking" threshold, and check daily your rolling 15 day usage. If your 15 day usage is too high, you will be sent a warning.
This warning gives you 3 days to reduce your rolling 15 day usage below thresholds. You are given a total of 3 warnings. Each warning will send you an email, a notification, and rotate your API key.
On the fourth instance of abuse, your account will be banned and your API key revoked.
What are the thresholds?
As our thresholds are dynamic they change with the usage patterns of all users. If more users have more usage on their accounts, then the dynamic threshold will go up, permitting more usage for everyone, but if more users start transferring fewer items, then the dynamic threshold will go down.
To make things easier to understand, we have established absolute usage floors:
Free - 5TB/month
Essential - 10TB/month
Standard - 20TB/month
Pro - 30TB/month
These are the lowest values our dynamic thresholds will reach, so you can be sure that if you stay below these levels you will not get flagged for abuse. Usage above these values are permitted within the 99th percentile of users.
Our dynamic thresholds are thus set above these values to ensure the average user can be certain about what TorBox allows at a minimum, while ensuring our thresholds remain fair and represent what most users will actually consume.
Does a higher plan give me a higher threshold?
Users with higher plans are permitted larger thresholds meaning you can transfer more items on Pro than you can on Essential. Each step in the tiering system permits double the minimum of the lower plan, as shown above. Each plan tier is also given its own dynamic threshold so users on higher plans contribute to their plan's dynamic threshold only. For example, a user on Pro will be permitted the dynamic threshold computed from all Pro users, the same applies for all tiers respectively.
How can I maintain an acceptable usage pattern?
Below are some common reasons an account may get flagged:
Excessive transfer retention (using tools to artificially keep transfers active).
Using automated tools that are misconfigured.
Misguided attempts at public service (building the cache).
Mass account sharing.
Simply using TorBox responsibly and abstaining from the above behaviours are easy ways to remain within our usage limits.
Are warnings permanent?
Warnings are permanent for the lifetime of your account.
Are bans final?
In rare cases we may entertain appeals at our discretion where sufficient motivation is provided.
Can I get a refund if my account is banned for abuse?
No refunds are given for policy violations.
What tools may I use?
Please refer to our Integrations page for suggestions.
How is usage monitored?
Each time a new transfer is started, we retain certain metadata such as the transfer size, user hash, and a timestamp. We use this metadata to enforce our abuse policy in a privacy respecting manner. This data is byte perfect, meaning if you don't consume an entire file from TorBox, it will only count the data actually used.
Which transfers count?
Incoming Transfers:
Any uncached transfer from the Internet to TorBox.
Cached transfers from the internet to TorBox do not count towards your usage limit.
Outgoing Transfers:
Any transfer from TorBox to your device.
Any transfer from TorBox to the Internet. (seeding, hoster uploads, etc).
Why do this?
We want to encourage responsible behaviour from our users to ensure our service remains high quality for everyone. Our policy aims to primarily prevent the following:
Using automated tools for the purpose of transferring as many items as possible. TorBox automatically removes transfers that have not been accessed in over thirty days (read how our cache works) to prevent build up of stale data.
Attempting to preemptively transfer files for other users (building the cache).
While we appreciate enthusiastic users, we are careful to not promote disruptive behaviour and artificial loading of our infrastructure.
Mass account sharing.
Unauthorised reselling.
Please refer to our partners page for more information.
How can I view my current usage?
On the TorBox dashboard, click on your avatar in the top right. It will display the 30 day usage, as well as a handy graph which is updated hourly. This graph's x-axis is the previous 4 weeks. Clicking on the question mark will bring you to this page again in a new tab.
