NewsBreak Can Pull the Carpet from Under Your Feet Anytime

There are some red flags

When I got monetized with NewsBreak a couple of months ago, I had stars in my eyes.

I earned more on NewsBreak than on Medium, even though I had fewer published articles on NewsBreak.

But recently, NewsBreak has given me some red flags.

NewsBreak unapproved my published article

I recently published an article on NewsBreak that got a higher RPM than ever. It was online for several days and earned me some money.

Then, I logged into my NewsBreak account and found out the published article was unapproved. All the money it had earned me was gone as well!

I got a notification that there were too many hyperlinks in the article. I reduced some of the links and tried to re-publish the article. It got unapproved again.

It seems like NewsBreak is impossible to please. They require you to add sources to all information you introduce in your article. But they will also punish you for too many links.

NewsBreak can approve your article, and it gains views and earnings for days. Then, it suddenly gets unapproved. And all the money the article has earned is gone as well.

It’s as if the article never got approved. Except it did. NewsBreak keeps the money your article earned, but your earnings are gone.

It’s hard not to think that NewsBreak is playing their contributors.

The constant threat of getting kicked out is consuming

I feel like the constant threat of getting kicked out of NewsBreak is consuming.

The communication from NewsBreak to the contributors feels like they’re constantly threatening us with sanctions.

I haven’t got any strikes on NewsBreak. But now that they have the strike policy, the possibility of getting a strike is always there.

NewsBreak also constantly changes its requirements and policies.

Recently, they sent contributors an e-mail informing us that we are not allowed to “unnecessarily” edit our old articles anymore.

Unnecessary editing could get you kicked out of the contributor program.

After reading the e-mail, I haven’t dared to edit any of my NewsBreak articles.

There are so many rules that it kills creativity

While NewsBreak is focused on local news now, I can still write about topics that interest me. My articles about unicorns and weird apartments in different U.S. cities have done OK.

But there are so many rules and threats that my writing on NewsBreak has become boring. I don’t dare to use any creativity in my articles.

After my published article got unapproved and I lost all its earnings, I’ve had trouble trusting NewsBreak.

I’m not sure if I want to work hard on an article for nothing. I feel like NewsBreak can pull the carpet from under your feet anytime. That’s giving me anxiety.

I read on Medium that many writers had problems with NewsBreak. I was naive and thought I would be OK. But I can’t ignore the red flags anymore.

Even earning money on NewsBreak seems like gambling now.

What is your experience with NewsBreak? Have you had any issues? Please let me know in the comments!

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