Even if something goes seriously wrong, Medium limits its legal liability and will not pay for lost profits, lost data, or other indirect losses you suffer as a result of using or being unable to use the platform.
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
This clause means that if you lose income, data, or business opportunities because of a Medium platform failure or security breach, your ability to recover damages from Medium is substantially limited.
Writers and publishers who depend on Medium for income or audience reach have limited legal recourse for financial losses caused by platform outages, data loss, or unauthorized access to their content under this clause.
How other platforms handle this
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, NEITHER WHATNOT NOR ITS SERVICE PROVIDERS INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING, OR DELIVERING THE SERVICES WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUES, LOST SAVINGS, LOST BUSINESS OPPORT...
In no event will either party's aggregate liability arising out of or related to this Agreement exceed the total fees paid or payable by Customer in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim. In no event will either party be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive d...
Except as stated in Section L.3.b, the liability of each party, and its affiliates and licensors, for any damages arising out of or related to these Terms (i) excludes damages that are consequential, incidental, special, indirect, or exemplary damages, including lost profits, business, contracts, re...
Monitoring
Medium has changed this document before.
Receive same-day alerts, structured change summaries, and monitoring for up to 10 platforms.
"TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, MEDIUM SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUES, WHETHER INCURRED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, RESULTING FROM (A) YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF OR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICES; (B) ANY CONDUCT OR CONTENT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON THE SERVICES; OR (C) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS, USE OR ALTERATION OF YOUR CONTENT.— Excerpt from Medium's Medium Terms of Service
(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: Liability limitation clauses in consumer contracts are subject to reasonableness review under the FTC Act and various state consumer protection statutes. In the EU, liability limitations that leave consumers without adequate remedy for damages caused by the service provider may conflict with consumer protection directives. Limitations on liability for data breaches may engage state data breach notification and liability statutes, including California's data breach law. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The exclusion of data loss liability is particularly significant for professional users and publishers who store unpublished drafts or rely on Medium as a primary content repository. The exclusion of unauthorized access liability could limit recourse in a data breach scenario, though applicable law may impose independent obligations that override contractual limitations. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: California, Illinois, and New York have consumer protection frameworks that may limit the enforceability of broad liability caps against individual consumers. EU consumer law generally prohibits clauses that exclude liability for damages caused by the service provider's own fault. The 'maximum extent permitted by law' qualifier in the clause acknowledges that applicable law may limit the cap's reach. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Organizations using Medium for commercial publishing should not rely on contractual remedies against Medium for business losses. The exclusion of lost profits and revenues liability is particularly material for professional content creators and media businesses. Standard commercial contracts typically negotiate mutual liability caps; this clause is unilateral and non-negotiable for standard users. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Risk management teams should assess whether Medium's liability limitations create unacceptable exposure for organizational use cases. Cyber insurance policies should be reviewed to determine whether losses from third-party platform failures or unauthorized access to content on Medium are covered, given the contractual limitation on direct recovery from Medium.
Full compliance analysis
Regulatory citations, enforcement risk, and due diligence action items.
Free: track 1 platform + weekly digest. Watcher: 10 platforms + same-day alerts. No credit card required.
Professional Governance Intelligence
Need to monitor specific governance provisions?
Professional includes provision-level monitoring, governance timelines, regulatory mapping, and audit-ready analysis.
Built from archived source documents, structured governance mappings, and historical version tracking.
This clause means that if you lose income, data, or business opportunities because of a Medium platform failure or security breach, your ability to recover damages from Medium is substantially limited.
Writers and publishers who depend on Medium for income or audience reach have limited legal recourse for financial losses caused by platform outages, data loss, or unauthorized access to their content under this clause.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 227 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Medium.