Medium
- The policy allows AI training; it does not describe an opt-out.
- Your data is used for personalized ads, including by third-party ad companies.
- Data is shared only with the providers who run the service.
- Staff may review your content; the policy does not describe an opt-out.
Medium collects reading and device data, may train ML on your posts, and can terminate you without notice.
Agent Trust Hub uses AI and may make mistakes. Review reports and confirm their contents before relying on them.
- Uses your content for AI training with no opt-out
Collected
Account info, posts, reading history, device IDs, cookies, and sometimes social or contact data.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“We collect information about your activity on our Services, such as your reading history and when you share links, follow users, highlight posts, and clap for posts.”
Training
They run the site, personalize posts, and may train machine learning on your content.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“and to train, test, and improve technology, including machine learning models and algorithms.”
Sharing
Other users see public posts; vendors and affiliates can get personal information.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“We share personal information with vendors, service providers, and consultants that need access to personal information”
Kept
If you close your account they say they delete account data within 14 days.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“If you close your account, we will delete your account data within 14 days.”
Controls
You can export, correct, or delete your account from Settings.
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Privacy policy
“You may access, correct, delete and export your account information at any time by logging into the Services and navigating to the Settings page.”
Fine print
They can close you without notice; as-is with a $50 cap.
Read the exact line
Terms of service
“We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to the Services with or without notice.”
Expand “Read the exact line” to see the source alongside the explanation.
What you can turn off
The controls and opt-outs their own documents describe, and where they say to find them.
Export, correct, or delete your account
Settings page (or Settings then Account in the app)
Opt out of marketing emails
Instructions in those emails or account Settings page
Request California
privacy@medium.com or the webform described in the privacy policy
If a switch is not where they say, the deletion request above still applies.
Line by line
The lines that matter most, worst first.
People and companies working for Medium can read your posts, messages, and AI chats to train and test tech.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“We and these vendors, service providers, and consultants may scan, analyze, and review your content, messages, AI interactions, and associated metadata.”
For example, a story you draft or an AI interaction could be scanned to improve their models.
Your information can be used to train machine learning. The policy does not give a switch to turn that off.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“and to train, test, and improve technology, including machine learning models and algorithms.”
For example, your published posts could be used to train algorithms without a training opt-out.
They can shut your account at any time and do not have to warn you first.
Read the exact line
Terms of service
“We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to the Services with or without notice.”
For example, you could lose access to your drafts overnight with no email.
If someone sues them because of something you posted, you may have to pay their legal bills.
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Terms of service
“you will , Medium, and our officers, directors, agents, partners and employees”
For example, if a post you wrote sparks a lawsuit, you could be on the hook for their lawyers.
If they mess up, they usually owe you at most $50 or what you paid them.
Read the exact line
Terms of service
“we limit the of Medium and the other Medium Parties for any claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or our Services, regardless of the form of the action, to the greater of $50.00 USD or the amount paid by you to use our Services.”
For example, if a bug wipes your work, their payout might be fifty dollars.
Cookies and third-party analytics can track you so they can target content based on what you do online.
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Privacy policy
“This information may be used by Medium and others to, among other things, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, deliver content targeted to your interests on our Services, and better understand your online activity.”
For example, what you read can be used with analytics partners to decide what stories to show you.
You still own your writing, but you give Medium a broad license to copy, change, and show it on their services.
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Terms of service
“you grant Medium a nonexclusive, , worldwide, fully paid, and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display your content”
For example, they can put a snippet of your story on the homepage or in an app preview.
Closing your account is supposed to wipe account data in two weeks, except what law requires them to keep.
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Privacy policy
“If you close your account, we will delete your account data within 14 days.”
For example, after you delete from Settings, they say the account should be gone in 14 days.
They say they do not sell your personal information.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“Medium does not sell your personal information.”
For example, they claim they will not sell your email or reading history as a sale under .
Words to know
Legal words from the lines above, in plain English.
- model training
- Using your content and conversations as examples to teach an AI system, which can then echo them in future answers. For example, a story you write in a chatbot may be studied by the company to make the next version of the bot.
- personal data
- Any information that is about you or can be linked to you, from your name to your phone's ID. For example, your email, your IP address and the list of apps on your phone are all personal data.
- service providers
- Outside companies that handle your data on the app's instructions, such as a cloud host or an email sender. For example, the company that stores the app's files in the cloud sees your data but only does what the app tells it.
- indemnify
- You promise to pay the company's legal costs and losses if your use of the service gets it sued. For example, if you post a song you do not own and the label sues the app, you owe the app's lawyer bills.
- limitation of liability
- A cap on what the company will ever pay you if something goes wrong, often only what you paid in the last year. For example, if a leak of your data costs you thousands, the most you may get back is a month's subscription fee.
- royalty-free
- The company can use your content without ever paying you for it. For example, your photo can appear in the app's ads and you get nothing.
- sublicensable
- The company can pass its rights over your content on to other companies without asking you. For example, an app can let an advertiser or a partner reuse your video under the licence you gave.
- worldwide license
- You let the company use your content anywhere on earth, usually for free and for as long as it likes. For example, a video you post can be shown in ads in any country without asking you again.
- sell or share
- Under California law, selling means passing your data to others for money or other value; sharing means passing it on for targeted ads. For example, letting an ad network use your browsing history in return for ad space counts as a sale.
How we got here · grade C · score 41/100 · 15 of 15 policy answers backed by a verified quote · 2 not stated
What does the app collect beyond what it needs to work?
They collect posts and account details plus reading history, device IDs, cookies, social-login data, and optional address-book contacts.
Does it record your voice, face or body, and what happens to that?
The documents do not describe recording voice, face, or body as biometric data.
Are your chats and uploads used to train AI models, and is that off by default?
Vendors may scan content and AI interactions to train machine learning, and no training opt-out is described.
Can employees or contractors read your conversations, and when?
They and vendors may scan and review your content and messages. No review opt-out is described.
Are you profiled or tracked for advertising?
They use cookies and third-party analytics to track use and deliver content targeted to your interests.
Do they sell or share your data, and can you opt out?
They say they do not sell personal information. They share with vendors, affiliates, and other users for public content.
What rights do they take over what you type and what the AI makes?
You keep ownership. You grant a sublicensable license to use your content on their Services only.
How long do they keep your data after you delete it, and can you delete it in the app?
You can delete from Settings. They say account data is deleted within 14 days after you close the account.
Does it build a lasting memory or profile of you, and can you see, edit or turn it off?
They infer location and reading preferences. You can update interests, but a full memory off-switch is not described.
Do they commit to basic security, and have they leaked data?
Not stated in the documents.
Is there a real age gate, and are teens protected?
You must be at least 13. There is no described age check beyond that statement.
Will they tell you when the rules change, and is the policy specific?
Policies are dated. They may email or update the date; continued use can mean you accept.
Can they close your account without warning, and can you get your data out first?
They can suspend or terminate access with or without notice.
If something goes wrong, who pays?
The service is as-is, liability is often capped at $50, and you must indemnify them for certain claims.
Do subscriptions renew on their own, and can you get a refund?
Not stated in the documents.
The privacy policy is 3,126 words at a college level (Flesch reading ease 44.8); the terms are 3,438 words at a fairly hard level.
