Why is Medium Suspending a Lot of Accounts?

Summary

Medium is suspending numerous accounts, causing frustration among writers who feel they have not received proper explanation or compensation.

Abstract

Medium has recently suspended multiple accounts due to alleged violations of platform rules, leaving many writers unable to access their content or earnings. The author of this article has experienced a similar situation and emphasizes the need for Medium to provide clear explanations and prompt solutions. The article suggests potential reasons for account suspensions, such as being caught in spam filters, writing from unauthorized locations, or using AI-generated content. The author criticizes Medium's lack of transparency regarding its rules and earnings distribution, arguing that the platform's actions negatively impact its community of talented writers.

Opinions

The author believes that Medium's decision to suspend accounts without proper explanation is frustrating and unfair to writers.
The author questions the reasons behind the account suspensions, suggesting that some may be due to mistakes in spam filters or discriminatory restrictions.
The author criticizes Medium's lack of transparency regarding its rules and earnings distribution, arguing that it negatively impacts the writing community.
The author expresses concern about Medium's practice of reducing earnings for frequent readers and providing boosts to AI-generated content.
The author hopes that Medium will provide a good explanation and promptly resolve the issue for affected writers.
The author encourages readers to support affected writers and consider alternative AI services.
The author suggests that Medium's actions may be a mistake and emphasizes the need for the platform to address the situation.

Medium Owes an Explanation to its Writers

Image from Author. This is what I get when trying to read from suspeded writers.

Hello! Today I am writing about a situation that happened on the Medium platform since yesterday. Apparently, Medium has decided to suspend several accounts, allegedly due to a “Violation of the Medium Rules” and they have also suspended their enrollment in the Parter Program.

There are some writers I read every day, either because I know them, or because I am subscribed to their stories by email; or simply because I am interested in what they write, but today it has been different. Today I didn’t find many of them and I noticed since yesterday many of the accounts began to “disappear” mysteriously, without an explanation.

My account was suspended in January (So I know how it feels)

I went through this experience a couple of months ago, and what I had to do was send an email to [email protected] kindly asking if they could explain further what rule I had violated and showing my total willingness to change whatever was necessary in the way I interact in Medium.

This was their response, and my account was back and fully active within the next hour:

Image by Author. Screenshot from the reponsed I received from Medium.

Many of the writers whose accounts have been suspended yesterday and today have taken the same action, but Medium has not responded, this is very frustrating for them since Medium took this action just today, March 5th, when they have just cut the earnings of the month of February and when we all look forward to getting how little or much we have obtained with our effort as writers.

These are the different reasons that may have influenced Medium’s decision:

The account was caught by spam filters by mistake (as happened with mine in January).

The writers were writing or monetizing from places not authorized by Medium or Stripe — and I really don’t understand about these restrictions, they seem discriminatory.

The engagement and interaction with other writers and readers was too high, generating suspicions of being a bot or spam.

The writers had more than one account on Medium.

The writers were using AI to create their content and interact with other members.

We can assume many things, but the reality is that we know nothing, and while Medium takes its time to solve the issue, today I have seen great writers disappear, writers I had the luck to still read this morning like Ryan Canady and Leonard Tillerman (can’t even tag them now).

So, what is all this about, Medium?

With this decision you are affecting a significant number of very talented people. It’s hard for me to understand the way you work.

You offer a FOM membership but you don’t clearly explain the rules of the game, most writers still earn only a few cents per reading, no matter who is reading.

You encourage readers to subscribe to our stories, but once you notice that a reader is frequent, you give us less earnings for that particular reader.

You give the option to buy an annual membership but you suspend the accounts without prior notice and without any explanation.

You encourage writers to write correctly to get a boost, but you give the boost to those who write with AI.

You give boosts to some writers but then suspend their accounts, while the bots accounts are still up and running.

We hope you have a good explanation for all these writers, who have paid to be here, some even made an annual payment and are now suspended.

Best wishes to all the amazing writers who are waiting for their accounts to be reactivated. This has to be a mistake, and Medium must solve it soon.