"Medium presents a moderate-to-high privacy risk profile comparable to mainstream ad-supported platforms, driven by extensive behavioral tracking, broad third-party data sharing for machine learning, and cross-website analytics that enable interest-based profiling. While Medium does not explicitly sell data, it shares user content and metadata with vendors for ML analysis, shares data across corporate affiliates, and permits third-party embeds to collect interaction data outside Medium's policy framework. Users have limited opt-out mechanisms and data is retained indefinitely for 'legitimate business purposes,' providing weak control over long-term data use."
medium Privacy Concerns & Scorecard
Medium shares data with broad categories of third parties for machine learning analysis, including content scanning and inference generation by vendors
Medium collects sensitive personal data including birthday, profile information, social connections, and infers commercial preferences
Medium does not provide granular control over third-party data sharing; opt-outs are limited to communications preferences and push notifications
Third-party analytics providers use cookies, web beacons, and device identifiers to track user behavior across Medium and other websites for interest-based profiling
Account deletion does not guarantee full data deletion, as data is retained for legal/business purposes beyond account closure
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Data Collection & Tracking
Personal Information Collected
Account creation, profile management, user identification, and communications
Content delivery, analytics, machine learning training, and inferences about user preferences
Technical operations, device fingerprinting, cross-device tracking, and analytics
Payment processing, subscription management, and business analytics
Network features, address book integration, and social profiling
Personalization, targeted content delivery, and behavioral profiling
Content analytics and user engagement measurement
Cross-Platform Tracking
Medium enables cross-website and cross-device tracking through third-party analytics providers that use cookies, web beacons, and device identifiers to monitor your activity across Medium and other sites/apps. Additionally, third-party embeds (such as YouTube) embedded in Medium posts collect your interaction data directly, outside Medium's policy control.
Tracking Methods:
Cookies
First-party and third-party cookies track user activity and preferences across Medium and other websites
Web Beacons / Pixels
Tracking pixels embedded in content and emails record user interactions and enable cross-site behavior monitoring
Device Identifiers
Unique device identifiers enable persistent tracking across multiple apps and devices used by the same person
Third-Party Analytics Tags
Analytics provider code tracks user behavior across Medium and external websites for interest-based profiling
Third-Party Embeds
Embedded content (YouTube, social media widgets) from third parties collects interaction data directly, bypassing Medium's privacy policy
AI & Data Training
medium uses your content to train AI
Below is what's used and how (if at all) you can object.
What Content Is Used
Posts
User posts and content are shared with vendors for machine learning analysis
Content Metadata
Metadata associated with user content is scanned and analyzed by vendors for machine learning purposes
How to Object
No opt-out available
This service does not currently provide a public way to opt out of AI training.
Why We Analyzed medium
TrueTerms automatically audits privacy policies and data practices using advanced machine learning to keep you informed and protected. This scorecard is based on the latest available public terms of service and privacy policies as of 2026.