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Medium's services are not intended for users under 13, and Medium states it will delete any personal data it discovers it has collected from a child under that age.
This analysis describes what Medium'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
Parents and guardians should be aware that Medium does not have mechanisms to verify user age at sign-up, which means the platform relies on users to self-report compliance with the age restriction.
The updated policy states that Medium and its vendors may scan, analyze, and review your content, messages, AI interactions, and associated metadata. Data sharing now explicitly includes information you submitted or posted through the service, extending beyond infrastructure support to machine learning model training and improvement. The policy does not indicate an opt-out mechanism or granular user control over this specific use of content.
View change record →Removal of standalone COPPA compliance clause means child privacy protections are now only covered under the general Children's Privacy provision with modified language.
View full change record →Medium does not permit children under 13 to use its services and commits to deleting data collected from such users if discovered, but the policy does not describe any active age verification mechanism at the point of account creation.
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"Our services are not directed to children. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under the age of 13, we will promptly delete that information.Excerpt from Medium's Privacy Policy
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision directly engages the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which prohibits operators of websites and online services from collecting personal information from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent. The FTC is the primary enforcement authority for COPPA violations. The policy's reliance on a reactive deletion approach (deleting data upon discovery) rather than proactive age verification is a recognized compliance gap under COPPA. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. COPPA enforcement actions have historically targeted platforms that did not implement adequate age-screening mechanisms and relied solely on self-reported age or reactive deletion. The absence of proactive verification does not satisfy COPPA's requirements where the platform has actual knowledge that users are under 13. JURISDICTION FLAGS: COPPA applies across the United States to any website or online service directed to children or with actual knowledge of collecting personal information from children. Some states have enacted additional protections for minors online (e.g., California's Age Appropriate Design Code), which may impose obligations beyond COPPA. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Organizations that use Medium for educational publishing or that have audiences that may include minors should assess whether their use of the platform creates exposure under COPPA or state equivalents. Schools or educational institutions should not direct students under 13 to create Medium accounts. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams should assess whether Medium's current sign-up flow includes any age-screening mechanism or COPPA-compliant parental consent process. If Medium's content or algorithms could attract users under 13, the adequacy of a reactive deletion approach should be evaluated against FTC COPPA guidance. Parents who believe a child has created a Medium account can contact privacy@medium.com to request deletion.
Regulatory citations, enforcement risk, and due diligence action items.
Ad personalization controls removed. Contact scanning added. Advertiser data partnerships quietly dropped. A timeline of every change.
Provision-level monitoring, governance timelines, and regulatory mapping built from archived source documents and historical version tracking.
Parents and guardians should be aware that Medium does not have mechanisms to verify user age at sign-up, which means the platform relies on users to self-report compliance with the age restriction.
Medium does not permit children under 13 to use its services and commits to deleting data collected from such users if discovered, but the policy does not describe any active age verification mechanism at the point of account creation.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 294 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Medium.