Medium Has a Diversity Problem With the MPP
The Medium Partner Program excludes most of the world
Does it seem to you like people from every corner of the earth are on Medium?
When I first got here, I was amazed at how diverse the writers were. I saw people from so many different places.
But in one very important respect, Medium is not truly welcoming of the world’s diversity. Why is that you ask?
A majority of the earth’s population cannot get paid for their work on Medium. That’s because most countries in the world are excluded from participation in the Medium Partner Program.
A majority of the earth’s population cannot get paid for their work on Medium.
Who is in and who is out?
Looking at the top 20 countries by population, only the United States, Mexico, Japan, and Germany are eligible for MPP. Those countries contain a respectable 670 million inhabitants.
Who’s excluded? Let’s start with China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Brazil. That accounts for 3.5 billion people right there.
The other excluded countries in the top 20 include:
- Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, Ethiopia
- Philippines, Egypt, Vietnam, DR Congo
- Turkey, Iran, and Thailand
Isn’t this Stripe’s fault?
That’s what I originally thought. Government regulation, right? Maybe it’s a data privacy thing?
But digging further, it becomes clear that some version of Stripe is available in several of the largest countries, including China, India, and Brazil.
In fact, it appears to be Medium itself that is holding up extending enrollment to these countries, not Stripe.
I don’t think we’re seeing the whole picture when blaming Stripe.
Does Medium make this information easy to find?
Yes and no. When you know what to look for, you pretty quickly come to the Medium Partner Program Terms, which will take you to the Eligibility Requirements.
This, in turn, will take you to the clearly stated list of Countries supported in the Program. If you haven’t found it earlier, when you go to set up your Stripe account, you’ll get another reminder from Medium.
I can’t in good faith say that Medium is hiding this information. They’re not.
But think for a moment what a new writer sees before all of that. They see this:
You join and start writing because it’s easy. You gain amazing reach overnight. You have to be pretty well into your journey before you get into the weeds of the Medium Partner Program.
Before then, you will probably have read many stories about gaining 100 Followers and about how much people are earning on Medium.
I can therefore understand the bitter disappointment of many writers who only much later come to learn they are not eligible to join the MPP.
Does this mean Medium is not as diverse as it could be?
That’s the inevitable conclusion. By no means is everyone here for the money. But people are naturally happy to be paid for their hard work.
It simply must push some writers away when they learn that others will be paid but they will not.
If you are in the MPP, are you secretly glad that most of the world is excluded? (More money for us, right?)
Or do you worry that omitting so many people is hardly inclusive and not sustainable?
If you’re not in the MPP and you’re still here writing, thank you!
I’d love to hear what you think.
Be well.
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