The Medium TOS Changes Redraft

Is Everything Fixed?

Medium recently announced that it was changing its terms of service. And not in a good way. A number of writers, myself included, wrote essays about why the new changes were a problem:

We encouraged writers to push back. To tell Medium that these changes were unacceptable. To inform them that if these were the rules under which we had to write, we just might leave the platform.

Medium heard us (Yay! Hurrah!) and responded by redrafting the TOS.

Problem solved? Well, not entirely.

But it’s an improvement.

Here’s what lawyer/writer/humorist Page Barnes had to say when she wrote to Medium about the changes:

I’ve read yesterday’s revision to your TOS, and they’re still a contradictory mess. (But they are a slight improvement to the previous draft.) Ironically, language that would adequately clarify the TOS is included in the post accompanying the announcement of the revised TOS.

This license doesn’t give Medium permission to sell your content to a third party, and we’ll never do that. You’re not granting us permission to use your content outside of Medium. You’re also not granting us copyright to, or ownership of, your content.

Incorporating this language into the TOS itself would be an easy fix and a huge improvement.

Page is absolutely right. One more TOS redraft that explicitly states that Medium cannot sell our content to third parties would be most welcome.

Are we likely to get this redraft?

I wouldn’t count on it.

That being said, the new and improved TOS are something that I believe I can live with.

Because I helped sound the alarm, and also because I once declared myself to be an (unpaid, unofficial) Medium Sherpa, folks have been asking me what I’m planning to do.

I was originally alerted to the TOS problems by a terrific and insightful post by Holly Jahangiri. I read Holly’s analysis, took her seriously, and wrote my own post about the issue. And now? I’m once again inclined to follow Holly’s lead. She takes a look at the updated TOS and tells us why she’s planning to stay with Medium here:

I love Medium. I’m glad I can continue to write here. And I’m heartened by the fact that when writers complained, Medium listened.

That’s good to know.

What else have I learned from this flap?

If nothing else, it has made me aware of a very cool writer. Going forward, I plan to follow Holly Jahangiri and read everything she writes.

And when you come right down to it, that’s what Medium is all about.

Writing Coach and Medium Sherpa Roz Warren writes for everyone from the Funny Times to the New York Times, has been in 15 Chicken Soup for the Soul collections, and is the author of Our Bodies, Our Shelves. Drop her a line at [email protected].

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