Medium offers meaningful privacy controls and no data-sale claim, but the terms heavily favor the platform through arbitration, liability caps, broad content licensing, and significant data collection/sharing.
Medium’s legal terms are fairly standard for a publishing platform but lean moderately protective of the company. Users keep ownership of their posts, can export/delete account data, and Medium says it does not sell personal information. However, the service uses broad content licenses, extensive tracking and third-party sharing, strong liability limits, mandatory arbitration with a class-action waiver, and can change terms or suspend service with limited notice.
Points of interest
Most disputes must be handled through individual arbitration in California, and class or representative actions are waived. That can make it harder and more expensive to bring a claim, especially for small harms.
"“you and Medium waive your rights to a jury trial... resolved in court”"
Any dispute must be filed within one year of when the claim arose, or it is permanently barred. This is much shorter than many users would expect and can cut off claims if you wait too long.
"“Any Dispute must be filed within one year after the relevant claim arose”"
You keep ownership of your posts, but Medium receives a worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to use and adapt them across its services. Practically, this allows Medium to reuse your content in ways you might not expect, though it says the license is limited to its services.
"“you grant Medium a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully paid, and sublicensable license”"
Medium collects account details, your posts, reading history, device identifiers, IP address, and activity data, and it also uses cookies and web beacons. This creates a fairly detailed profile of how you read and interact with the platform.
"“we automatically collect certain information, including... your reading history”"
Medium may stop offering the service or features, limit storage and distribution, and suspend or terminate accounts with or without notice. Users therefore have limited assurance that access or published content will remain available indefinitely.
"“We may stop providing the Services or any of its features within our sole discretion.”"
Medium states it does not sell your personal information, which is a meaningful privacy benefit compared with services that monetize user data that way. It also says California users can opt out if that ever changes in the future.
"“Medium does not sell your personal information.”"
You can access, correct, delete, and export your account information from Settings. That gives users a practical way to retrieve their data and start closing an account without having to file a separate legal request.
"“You may access, correct, delete and export your account information at any time”"
Medium shares personal information with vendors, service providers, and other users, and says those vendors may scan and review your content, messages, AI interactions, and metadata. That means your material may be exposed beyond Medium itself for processing.
"“We and these vendors... may scan, analyze, and review your content, messages, AI interactions, and associated metadata.”"
If you interact with embedded third-party content, the third party can collect information directly from that interaction. Medium says it does not control that collection, so off-site tools like videos or embeds can create separate privacy exposure.
"“When you interact with an Embed, it can send information about your interaction to the hosting third party”"
Medium explicitly describes GDPR-style rights for EEA, UK, and Swiss users, including access, erasure, objection, restriction, and complaint rights. It also names how to contact a regulator if issues are unresolved.
"“you have the right to request access... the right to ask that your personal data be corrected or erased”"
For EEA users, Medium says account data is deleted within 14 days after account closure, which is relatively clear. Other data may still be kept longer for legal or business reasons, so deletion is not total.
"“If you close your account, we will delete your account data within 14 days.”"
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Documents
Terms of Service
source ↗- •You must follow Medium’s Rules, comply with laws, and be at least 13 years old to use the Services.
- •You are responsible for your account, password security, and any content or information you submit or access.
- •You keep ownership of your content, but you give Medium a worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, modify, and distribute it on Medium.
- •Medium may review, remove, or disable content that violates the Terms, infringes rights, or comes from repeat copyright infringers.
- •You may not copy or share content unless you have the legal right, and you may not sell personal information you collect from other users.
- •Medium may stop offering the Services or features, limit storage or distribution, and suspend or terminate accounts with or without notice.
- •Your information may be processed, transferred, and stored in the United States and other countries with different legal protections.
- •You must indemnify Medium for claims caused by your legal violations or infringement, and Medium disclaims warranties and limits liability to $50 or amounts you paid.
- •Most disputes must go through informal notice first, then binding individual arbitration in California unless you opt out within 30 days; class actions are waived.
- •California law governs the Terms, changes take effect after notice or continued use, and disputes generally must be filed within one year.
Privacy Policy
source ↗- •Medium collects account and profile details, the content you post, and some information about others when you gift a membership.
- •Medium automatically collects activity data, transaction details for memberships, device and usage data, and information from cookies and web beacons.
- •Medium may also receive information from third parties such as social networks, analytics providers, and account logins via Apple, Facebook, Google, or Twitter.
- •Medium uses data to run and improve its services, provide and personalize content, process transactions, send support/security messages, and prevent fraud.
- •Medium shares personal information with other users, vendors and service providers (including analytics and payment processing), and may disclose data for legal or safety reasons.
- •Medium states embedded third-party content can send information to those third parties, and Medium does not control embed data collection or use.
- •Medium transfers personal information to the United States and other countries and says it takes steps to provide adequate protection in those jurisdictions.
- •You can access, correct, delete, and export account information in Settings, and deleting your account may not remove all information needed by law or for business.
- •Medium limits targeted communications: you can opt out of many non-administrative messages, and mobile push notifications require consent and can be turned off.
- •For California and Europe residents, Medium describes access/deletion/objection rights, data retention timelines, lawful bases for processing, and how to contact or complain.
