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Users who post questions, comments, notes, images, videos, or other content on Khan Academy grant the platform a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to reproduce, distribute, modify, and exploit that content across any media formats and channels. The license is qualified by applicable privacy law as it relates to personal information and education records.
This analysis describes what Khan Academy's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision establishes the baseline content license governing all user-submitted postings and code. The perpetual and irrevocable nature of the license means users cannot retract permissions granted at time of submission, subject to the carve-out for applicable privacy law requirements governing personal information and education records.
Interpretive note: The operative scope of the privacy law carve-out for education records depends on how Khan Academy classifies and processes content from school accounts, which is not fully specified in the document.
The agreement establishes that content posted on Khan Academy, including questions, comments, and notes, is licensed to the platform on a perpetual, irrevocable basis for reproduction, distribution, and creation of derivative works. The terms retain user ownership of submitted content but grant Khan Academy broad operational rights over it.
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"By posting, submitting or distributing User Content on or through the Services, you hereby grant to Khan Academy a worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, assignable, fully paid-up, sublicensable, royalty-free right and license to (a) host, transfer, display, perform, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, use, make, have made, import, and otherwise exploit your User Content, in whole or in part, in any media formats and through any media channels (now known or hereafter developed, to the extent consistent with Applicable Law and Khan Academy's Privacy Policy). Such license is perpetual and irrevocable, except to the extent required to comply with Applicable Privacy Law relating to ownership and control of your personal information, including education records.Excerpt from Khan Academy's Terms of Service
1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: The perpetual, irrevocable license is qualified by Applicable Privacy Law as it relates to personal information and education records, directly engaging FERPA and COPPA. The document's Section 6.2 carve-out for School Accounts provides that user content constituting education records is subject to applicable privacy law constraints, which the FTC and Department of Education enforce. 2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The license scope is broad but qualified by applicable law. The operative question for institutional compliance is whether the privacy law carve-out is sufficient to protect FERPA-covered education records from the full scope of the license, which depends on how Khan Academy operationalizes the qualification. 3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: GDPR's right to erasure may conflict with the irrevocable nature of the license for EU users, though Section 4.3 acknowledges that statutory protections in EU jurisdictions apply. California users may have CCPA rights with respect to personal information embedded in user content. 4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Institutions should confirm through District Agreements or supplemental written agreements whether education record content posted through school accounts is governed by a more restrictive license than the standard perpetual irrevocable grant. The document states that for School Accounts, applicable privacy law controls, but institutions should verify this is operationally implemented. 5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams should assess whether the perpetual irrevocable license, as qualified, is compatible with FERPA's restrictions on the use and redisclosure of education records and with GDPR's right to erasure for EU users. Data mapping should identify whether user content posted through school accounts is being processed under the standard license or the education records carve-out.
Regulatory citations, enforcement risk, and due diligence action items.
Provision-level monitoring, governance timelines, and regulatory mapping built from archived source documents and historical version tracking.
This provision establishes the baseline content license governing all user-submitted postings and code. The perpetual and irrevocable nature of the license means users cannot retract permissions granted at time of submission, subject to the carve-out for applicable privacy law requirements governing personal information and education records.
The agreement establishes that content posted on Khan Academy, including questions, comments, and notes, is licensed to the platform on a perpetual, irrevocable basis for reproduction, distribution, and creation of derivative works. The terms retain user ownership of submitted content but grant Khan Academy broad operational rights over it.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Khan Academy.