Medium Terms of Service

This document governs user access to and use of Medium's platform, including its website, mobile applications, and related services, establishing a contractual relationship under California law between Medium and its users effective September 1, 2020. The agreement states that users grant Medium 'a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully paid, and sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, publish, translate, publicly perform and display' their posted content, and that Medium may modify, suspend, or terminate accounts at its discretion. Notably, the terms require users to agree to a class action waiver and mandatory arbitration clause, with a 30-day opt-out window for new users, placing individual dispute resolution over collective legal action in a manner commonly observed across consumer platforms but materially consequential for users with legitimate claims. The agreement engages the FTC Act (unfair or deceptive practices), CCPA (California consumer privacy rights), and COPPA (the platform states it is not directed at children under 13), with California courts retaining jurisdiction over disputes not subject to arbitration. Compliance teams should note that the broad intellectual property license, the content moderation discretion, and the arbitration provisions each carry operational and regulatory implications that vary by jurisdiction, particularly for EU and California-resident users covered by GDPR and CCPA respectively.