The agreement reserves Substack's right to remove any content at any time for any reason without notice, at its sole discretion. Users are also prohibited from scraping, crawling, reverse engineering, or copying significant portions of platform content or attempting to access other users' account credentials.
This analysis describes what Substack'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 provision establishes that content removal is exercised at Substack's sole discretion without a notice requirement, including in response to third-party allegations of terms violations. The prohibition on scraping and automated data collection is relevant to developers, researchers, and organizations that may seek to access platform data programmatically.
This provision authorizes Substack to remove any content without notice based on its sole judgment, including in response to allegations that have not been adjudicated. The acceptable use restrictions prohibit automated data collection, reverse engineering, and unauthorized credential access, with violations potentially resulting in account termination.
How other platforms handle this
You agree not to engage in any of the following prohibited activities: (i) copying, distributing, or disclosing any part of the Service in any medium, including without limitation by any automated or non-automated 'scraping'; (ii) using any automated system, including without limitation 'robots,' 's...
You agree not to engage in any of the following prohibited activities: (i) copying, distributing, or disclosing any part of the Service in any medium, including without limitation by any automated or non-automated 'scraping'; (ii) using any automated system, including without limitation 'robots,' 's...
Customer agrees to comply with Cohere's Acceptable Use Policy, as updated from time to time, which is incorporated into this Agreement by reference. Customer may not use the Services for any unlawful purpose, to generate content that infringes third-party rights, or in any manner that violates appli...
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"We reserve the right to remove any content from Substack at any time, for any reason (including, but not limited to, if someone alleges you contributed that content in violation of these Terms), in our sole discretion, and without notice. You also agree that you will not contribute any Post or otherwise use Substack in a manner that: Is fraudulent or threatening, or in any way violates Substack's Content Guidelines; Jeopardizes the security of your Substack account or anyone else's; Attempts, in any manner, to obtain the password, account, or other security information of any other user; "Crawls," "scrapes," or "spiders" any page, data, or portion of Substack (through use of manual or automated means); Copies or stores any significant portion of the content on Substack; Decompiles, reverse engineers, or otherwise attempts to obtain the source code or underlying ideas or information of or relating to Substack.— Excerpt from Substack's Substack Terms of Use
1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: Content moderation and removal practices for platforms operating in the EU are subject to the Digital Services Act, which imposes transparency and notice requirements for content removal decisions affecting EU users. In the US, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides platforms with broad immunity for content moderation decisions, supporting the breadth of this discretionary removal provision. The FTC Act is relevant to the extent content removal practices could be characterized as affecting consumer service delivery. 2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Low to Medium. The discretionary content removal provision without notice is standard across major US publishing and social media platforms and is broadly supported by Section 230 immunity. The scraping prohibition is increasingly relevant given the proliferation of AI data collection and may be enforced through terms violation or, in some jurisdictions, through computer fraud statutes. 3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU users have additional protections under the Digital Services Act requiring platforms to provide reasons for content removal and offer redress mechanisms. California's Consumer Legal Remedies Act and unfair business practices laws may be relevant if content removal is alleged to be deceptive or unfair in a commercial context. The CFAA is potentially applicable in the US context for unauthorized scraping or access. 4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Developers or organizations that have built workflows dependent on Substack content access should note that the scraping prohibition may affect data pipelines. API access is not described in these Terms but the acceptable use restrictions would apply to any programmatic access not expressly authorized by a separate agreement. 5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams assessing platform dependency risk should note that content essential to business operations may be removed without notice under these terms. Organizations with EU users should assess whether Substack's content moderation practices comply with DSA requirements for notice and redress. The reference to Content Guidelines as a separate incorporated document means compliance review should extend to that document.
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This provision establishes that content removal is exercised at Substack's sole discretion without a notice requirement, including in response to third-party allegations of terms violations. The prohibition on scraping and automated data collection is relevant to developers, researchers, and organizations that may seek to access platform data programmatically.
This provision authorizes Substack to remove any content without notice based on its sole judgment, including in response to allegations that have not been adjudicated. The acceptable use restrictions prohibit automated data collection, reverse engineering, and unauthorized credential access, with violations potentially resulting in account termination.
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