Substack Terms of Use

This document is Substack's Terms of Use (effective April 21, 2025), a binding contract governing all use of Substack's media platform for writing, video, podcasts, and creator-centered communities, incorporating by reference the Privacy Policy, Publisher Agreement, Content Guidelines, Support Chatbot Terms, and Copyright Dispute Policy. The agreement states that users retain ownership of their original content but grant Substack a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and worldwide license to translate, modify, reproduce, and otherwise act with respect to Posts to enable the platform to operate; the terms also authorize Substack to terminate or suspend any account at its discretion for any reason with limited advance notice obligations. The mandatory arbitration clause with class action waiver, requiring individual arbitration in San Francisco County under JAMS Streamlined Rules, is a notable limitation on legal recourse that is standard among consumer platforms but may face enforceability constraints in certain jurisdictions, particularly for EU and UK users where such waivers may not be recognized; the perpetual, irrevocable content license combined with the acknowledgment that deleted content may remain in backups or third-party copies represents meaningful practical exposure for creators. The document engages COPPA (children under 16 are expressly prohibited from registering), CCPA (a separate CCPA Policy is referenced), and GDPR/UK GDPR insofar as Substack serves EU and UK users, though the ToS itself does not detail EU-specific rights mechanisms, which are addressed in the Privacy Policy; the California governing law and arbitration venue provisions create heightened compliance relevance for California-resident users and creators, and the TCPA may be engaged by the SMS verification provisions.