Blogging
Medium privacy rating
Hosted publishing platform for articles and blogs, with a paid membership that unlocks member-only stories and pays writers.
Summary
Medium scores 41 out of 100 (grade D) on the blogging criteria. It meets 3 of 9 criteria: no ads or data sales, tells users about requests and TLS configuration. It partly meets transparency report, security headers and modern web standards. It does not meet open source, no trackers or telemetry and independent audit. It is based in the United States: Five Eyes member; subject to the US CLOUD Act. Automated tests: SSL Labs grade A+, Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade B+ and Internet.nl website score 75%.
Score 41 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
- No
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No
No trackers or telemetry Weight 3 of 3
Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default?
The Android app contains Google Analytics, Google Crashlytics and Facebook Login, and the privacy policy names third-party analytics providers.
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Yes
No ads or data sales Weight 2 of 3
Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
Member-supported with no ads, and the privacy policy states Medium does not sell personal information.
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No
Independent audit Weight 2 of 3
Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
No independent audit is published.
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Partial
Transparency report Weight 2 of 3
Does the provider regularly publish how many government and legal requests it receives and how it responds?
The privacy policy describes how legal requests are handled, but no request counts are published.
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Yes
Tells users about requests Weight 1 of 3
Does the provider promise to tell users about requests for their data, unless a court forbids it?
The privacy policy promises notice before disclosing data in response to legal process unless prohibited or it would endanger others.
Automated tests
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Yes
TLS configuration Weight 2 of 3
Does the website pass the Qualys SSL Labs test with a grade of A or better?
Grade A+
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Partial
Security headers Weight 1 of 3
Does the website pass the Mozilla HTTP Observatory test with a grade of A or better?
Grade B+ (80/100+)
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Partial
Modern web standards Weight 1 of 3
Does the website score 90% or higher on the Internet.nl website test?
Score 75%