When you publish anything on Medium, you give Medium the legal right to use, copy, share, sell, translate, and create new works based on your content worldwide, without paying you.
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
The provision establishes Medium's operational rights to deploy user-generated content across its service delivery infrastructure, including its network of publications. The transferability and sublicensing components enable Medium to extend these usage rights to affiliated entities and partners involved in service provision and content distribution.
The updated terms expand a data collection warranty to apply to all personal information users provide to Medium, not limited to newsletter editor submissions. Users now represent and warrant that any personal information they submit has been lawfully collected and that all required notices and consents were obtained before collection. This means the warranty applies whether data is provided through newsletters, account profiles, submissions, or other Medium features. If a user provides personal information collected without proper notice or consent, they may be in breach of this representation.
View change record →The license scope expanded to include explicit rights to modify content, use associated name/username/likeness, cover all media formats, and explicitly state no compensation is owed, while removing the 'in connection with Medium's Services' limitation.
View full change record →Every piece of content you publish on Medium — articles, stories, responses — is subject to a sweeping royalty-free worldwide license that allows Medium and its sublicensees to reproduce, distribute, and create derivative works from your writing without additional compensation or approval.
How other platforms handle this
By posting or submitting any content on or through the Services (including, without limitation, reviews, photographs, audio, video and other material), you grant Walmart a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully paid, unlimited, worldwide, sublicensable, transferable license to use, copy, perfor...
By posting or uploading Content to the Site, you grant Upwork a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, and sublicensable right and license to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display, and distribute such Content in any and all me...
By submitting, posting or displaying content on or through the Service, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such content in any and all media or distrib...
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"By posting content to Medium, you give us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, transferable license to use the content, with the right to sublicense, reproduce, distribute, display, publish, perform, make, have made, sell, translate, and create derivative works of your content in connection with Medium's Services, including our owned and operated publications.— Excerpt from Medium's Medium Terms of Service
REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: This provision implicates U.S. copyright law (17 U.S.C. §106) — users retain ownership but grant broad exploitation rights. Under GDPR Art. 17 and the right to erasure, EU users may request deletion of personal data embedded in content, but the content license may survive deletion requests if content has been sublicensed. The EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) and related copyright debates around AI training data create emerging regulatory risk if Medium uses licensed content for AI model training without explicit disclosure. FTC Act Section 5 applies if the license scope is materially broader than users reasonably expect based on platform disclosures.
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The provision establishes Medium's operational rights to deploy user-generated content across its service delivery infrastructure, including its network of publications. The transferability and sublicensing components enable Medium to extend these usage rights to affiliated entities and partners involved in service provision and content distribution.
Every piece of content you publish on Medium — articles, stories, responses — is subject to a sweeping royalty-free worldwide license that allows Medium and its sublicensees to reproduce, distribute, and create derivative works from your writing without additional compensation or approval.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 16 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Medium.