In January 2025 — the worst month in Medium’s history — countless writers faced devastating losses. Today, the CEO publicly dismissed their concerns. There are better alternatives to regain the broken
Lovely to 'see' you here on Substack, Dr Yildiz. You and your publication, Illumination, were most helpful during my early days on Medium.
Like many, my Medium account was banned due to rogue algorithms. I was marked as a spammer, lost all my followers and a great deal of goodwill in January 2025. I am still on Medium but engaging far less and using it more as a 'blog' where I post my stories.
I wish you and all your followers here on Substack a hugely successful year!
Agree with your analysis. Their responses have been shocking. The blame they're putting is disgusting at best. I have not changed anything, yet earnings are slashed. I can only see this getting worse as more writers end FoM memberships and many end paying memberships all together.
The drop in earnings is one thing, but the arrogance from the dude running Medium is what’s crazy. I’ve never seen someone so tone deaf. He needs to at least take a Psychology 101 class on how to respond to people without pissing everyone off.
Yes, I read the Stubblebine message and was offended. "Those with lost income are a small group of writers who communicate among themselves." Insulting.
And no clarity about what pays.
No doubt those who retained income are those too big to fail--the Obamas and Clintons, who I've blocked. Not that they've ever know.
I received no email, but I never do. I have been on Medium over 4 years, used to be a top writer in 4 different categories, and was curated frequently. Yet, I have only been boosted once. What happened? My writing didn't suddenly get worse. I am effectively being shadowbanned, and I've finally had enough. I will be deleting my account, and I DO hope Medium goes out of business. They have been very unfair to loyal writers. I made so little last year that I will have to pay more than half of it to have my taxes prepared. It was a complete waste of time to even post there.
Why is so hard to state the change of direction clearly? If the CEO wants a particular profile of writers. Crowd-drawing Techies, Data Science. Academics. People with letters. On curated topics and bounds. Invited to "Medium Hour". Not here to earn and so won't care about dips. That's OK--do they not keep this upfront in their own teams?
Or do they pay their own teams to shroud company direction as inner workings, top down curation in subterfuge and studied stratagems.
Instead, we're told we're not genuine writers if we're ask about the M words - Medium or Money. I believe it's human to desire transparency.
I'm only a newbie since Oct 2024. But I felt compelled to share my earnings for the first time to add to the evidence.
The old footsteps and writing of writers who'd left due to censorship, non transparency were my clues that management is not perfect.
But I don't wish for the brilliant writers and friends I found to start believing that they're bit writers "less than" or "too much" for questioning where their energy is going, and how the extreme swing in rates go.
Once a strong supporter, I left in 2022 for this reason. My earnings plummeting suddenly and devastatingly. What seems to be happening is the same thing, Dr. Y. Those changes nearly bankrupted me. Those of us who called out the issue were blamed for being bad apples. Now I see, three years hence, a good many more dedicated writers (many of whom may well not have been a top writer as I was with much to lose) and who may have started writing after the midsummer 2022 great loss to many are getting burned the same way. It's a pattern, a consistent pattern, and I stand by my feelings about how Medium treats its content creators: badly and with great disdain. I respect your hard work in trying to make sense of things but for my part, I only crosspost any more. Medium long ago lost my trust and it doesn't deserve the loyalty of any content creator. A great idea gone sour.
Hi Julia, great to hear from you. I know the struggles you had but you boldly took ownership of your content and became independent of Medium. Some writers are still using it as a single source of income and it in January 2025 it was like a financial market crash. Now Medium denies it, showing all sunshine and rainbows. I am glad you have your own platform and also Substack presence. You are a role model for the writing community. It's great to find you here, too.
This looks very concerning to me, Dr Yildiz. Those comments did not make any sense to me. As you suggested a simple acknowledgement of the issue with a genuine apology could have made wonders. Arrogance will not help any person or business.
You put a mirror inside of Medium and show us true picture. I lost trust like many. Medium blacklists writers it does not like and those who criticize them. I am one of them. Despite my significant contribution to the platform I was put into distribution jail. Now my stories get zero views once they used to get many. I believe it is in a coma as you identified. No one wants it to die but this arrogance is unbelievable and expedite its demise.
Dr Mehmet, you posts are always so complete and thorough. Yes there are red signs about Medium and how it is run. They need to follow your suggestions instead hiding head in the sand. And it quite awful to blame us.
I certainly believe they have a serious coding issue, because one day all my reads and views totals were blanked all the way back to a month in 2024. Being an ex-programmer, and once upon a time a newbie coder , it too clear to they have inheritedcode, they dont know indide out, and many there is little documentation, and just maybe they tweeked the code to reduce something. .
Since Buster left, I think they lost a really valuable member of the team. It makes me wonder why dud he leave, he wrote a post, and it felt things were not all that good.
Hi there, I have been a faithful reader, leaving long responses many times on Medium since 2018. I upgrades to Friend level because I wanted to help pay more to these writers on the platform. When Dr. Mehmet shared his frustrations I was taken back and a bit shocked and concerned. I decided to research what I could find. I wanted to know 'who' owns Medium? What I found was that Alphabet owns Medium, ( yes, they first invested in Medium but they own them now). Who is Alphabet? was my next question. I found that this company owns more than 600 businesses. I chose to read and research randomly 35 of these businesses on the list. I worked on this all day. The document that I found online (public posting as required by law) was 2024 tax requirement for the registration of all it's businesses. I believe, they are registered in New Jersey or one of those easy reporting tax states. But don't quote me. I don't have it in front of me, but I did download on my computer. I looked at 35 and some of them are still operating, and some where definitely shut down. Originally I was looking for a possible conflict of interest due to many of the topics in Dr. Mehmet Health publications (which I love). For example, big pharma or mainstream medical threatening pushing them out. But then I've seen how the payment structures of other writers have been affected or being censored. I just didn't find any strong correlation. Medium is owned by Alphabet, which is owned by Google, tricky lil buggers on how Google says they "work together for the common good" but it's Google. A lot of nice people at the top of Medium, but they are not in charge.
I'm loving these update/protest posts you've been publishing. I'm really sad to see them being ignorant to the voices and mistreating the very bloodline of their profits. It's so infuriating and frustrating to be treated this way. I hope they change their ways soon and stop ignoring us writers. Please keep us updated. I've yet to read the John Pearce post and will.
Lovely to 'see' you here on Substack, Dr Yildiz. You and your publication, Illumination, were most helpful during my early days on Medium.
Like many, my Medium account was banned due to rogue algorithms. I was marked as a spammer, lost all my followers and a great deal of goodwill in January 2025. I am still on Medium but engaging far less and using it more as a 'blog' where I post my stories.
I wish you and all your followers here on Substack a hugely successful year!
Nice one, Mehmet. Thanks for your big time advocaty and ongoing support. Authentic storytellers need authentic leaders.
Well said. A hard truth that needs to be acknowledged.
Hoping Medium takes action before trust is lost for good.
Agree with your analysis. Their responses have been shocking. The blame they're putting is disgusting at best. I have not changed anything, yet earnings are slashed. I can only see this getting worse as more writers end FoM memberships and many end paying memberships all together.
The drop in earnings is one thing, but the arrogance from the dude running Medium is what’s crazy. I’ve never seen someone so tone deaf. He needs to at least take a Psychology 101 class on how to respond to people without pissing everyone off.
I’m glad I left Medium
Yes, I read the Stubblebine message and was offended. "Those with lost income are a small group of writers who communicate among themselves." Insulting.
And no clarity about what pays.
No doubt those who retained income are those too big to fail--the Obamas and Clintons, who I've blocked. Not that they've ever know.
I received no email, but I never do. I have been on Medium over 4 years, used to be a top writer in 4 different categories, and was curated frequently. Yet, I have only been boosted once. What happened? My writing didn't suddenly get worse. I am effectively being shadowbanned, and I've finally had enough. I will be deleting my account, and I DO hope Medium goes out of business. They have been very unfair to loyal writers. I made so little last year that I will have to pay more than half of it to have my taxes prepared. It was a complete waste of time to even post there.
As such a Medium adherent (Stubblebrain) buddy, I am surprised by your honest assessment. Randy Kaplan.
Dr Mehmet, thank you for writing.
Why is so hard to state the change of direction clearly? If the CEO wants a particular profile of writers. Crowd-drawing Techies, Data Science. Academics. People with letters. On curated topics and bounds. Invited to "Medium Hour". Not here to earn and so won't care about dips. That's OK--do they not keep this upfront in their own teams?
Or do they pay their own teams to shroud company direction as inner workings, top down curation in subterfuge and studied stratagems.
Instead, we're told we're not genuine writers if we're ask about the M words - Medium or Money. I believe it's human to desire transparency.
I'm only a newbie since Oct 2024. But I felt compelled to share my earnings for the first time to add to the evidence.
The old footsteps and writing of writers who'd left due to censorship, non transparency were my clues that management is not perfect.
But I don't wish for the brilliant writers and friends I found to start believing that they're bit writers "less than" or "too much" for questioning where their energy is going, and how the extreme swing in rates go.
Once a strong supporter, I left in 2022 for this reason. My earnings plummeting suddenly and devastatingly. What seems to be happening is the same thing, Dr. Y. Those changes nearly bankrupted me. Those of us who called out the issue were blamed for being bad apples. Now I see, three years hence, a good many more dedicated writers (many of whom may well not have been a top writer as I was with much to lose) and who may have started writing after the midsummer 2022 great loss to many are getting burned the same way. It's a pattern, a consistent pattern, and I stand by my feelings about how Medium treats its content creators: badly and with great disdain. I respect your hard work in trying to make sense of things but for my part, I only crosspost any more. Medium long ago lost my trust and it doesn't deserve the loyalty of any content creator. A great idea gone sour.
Hi Julia, great to hear from you. I know the struggles you had but you boldly took ownership of your content and became independent of Medium. Some writers are still using it as a single source of income and it in January 2025 it was like a financial market crash. Now Medium denies it, showing all sunshine and rainbows. I am glad you have your own platform and also Substack presence. You are a role model for the writing community. It's great to find you here, too.
This looks very concerning to me, Dr Yildiz. Those comments did not make any sense to me. As you suggested a simple acknowledgement of the issue with a genuine apology could have made wonders. Arrogance will not help any person or business.
Thank you for all your thorough observations. You are doing yeoman work valuable for history and lessons learned.
Medium is a lost cause. Good writers will move. Those invested because of large followings may stay longer.
Medium is dying. Without support to speak of and with continued demonstrations of incompetence, the agony may last one more year.
It will become, if it is not already, an echo chamber for those who get lots of agreement by their followers.
You put a mirror inside of Medium and show us true picture. I lost trust like many. Medium blacklists writers it does not like and those who criticize them. I am one of them. Despite my significant contribution to the platform I was put into distribution jail. Now my stories get zero views once they used to get many. I believe it is in a coma as you identified. No one wants it to die but this arrogance is unbelievable and expedite its demise.
I don’t think you’re on a blacklist, honestly. Everyone struggles with distribution.
Dr Mehmet, you posts are always so complete and thorough. Yes there are red signs about Medium and how it is run. They need to follow your suggestions instead hiding head in the sand. And it quite awful to blame us.
I certainly believe they have a serious coding issue, because one day all my reads and views totals were blanked all the way back to a month in 2024. Being an ex-programmer, and once upon a time a newbie coder , it too clear to they have inheritedcode, they dont know indide out, and many there is little documentation, and just maybe they tweeked the code to reduce something. .
Since Buster left, I think they lost a really valuable member of the team. It makes me wonder why dud he leave, he wrote a post, and it felt things were not all that good.
Something isn't right.
I heard they fired Buster.
Oh
Hi there, I have been a faithful reader, leaving long responses many times on Medium since 2018. I upgrades to Friend level because I wanted to help pay more to these writers on the platform. When Dr. Mehmet shared his frustrations I was taken back and a bit shocked and concerned. I decided to research what I could find. I wanted to know 'who' owns Medium? What I found was that Alphabet owns Medium, ( yes, they first invested in Medium but they own them now). Who is Alphabet? was my next question. I found that this company owns more than 600 businesses. I chose to read and research randomly 35 of these businesses on the list. I worked on this all day. The document that I found online (public posting as required by law) was 2024 tax requirement for the registration of all it's businesses. I believe, they are registered in New Jersey or one of those easy reporting tax states. But don't quote me. I don't have it in front of me, but I did download on my computer. I looked at 35 and some of them are still operating, and some where definitely shut down. Originally I was looking for a possible conflict of interest due to many of the topics in Dr. Mehmet Health publications (which I love). For example, big pharma or mainstream medical threatening pushing them out. But then I've seen how the payment structures of other writers have been affected or being censored. I just didn't find any strong correlation. Medium is owned by Alphabet, which is owned by Google, tricky lil buggers on how Google says they "work together for the common good" but it's Google. A lot of nice people at the top of Medium, but they are not in charge.
That could explain the good coverage in Google searches of Medium articles.
I'm loving these update/protest posts you've been publishing. I'm really sad to see them being ignorant to the voices and mistreating the very bloodline of their profits. It's so infuriating and frustrating to be treated this way. I hope they change their ways soon and stop ignoring us writers. Please keep us updated. I've yet to read the John Pearce post and will.