3 Reasons Your Medium Account Could Be Revoked—and How to Avoid Them

Medium is an excellent platform for sharing stories, insights, and expertise with a large audience. However, certain practices can lead to account suspension or revocation. Whether you're a new writer or a seasoned blogger on Medium, it's essential to understand these pitfalls to avoid them. Let's break down three common reasons for account revocation and discuss how to keep your Medium account safe and thriving.

1. Fake Engagement

Medium values genuine engagement between writers and readers and has strict guidelines against artificially boosting engagement metrics. Fake engagement refers to tactics such as:

• Buying claps, comments, and followers: Some users purchase claps or followers to make their articles appear popular. This practice violates Medium's policies and can result in account suspension.
• Engagement pods: Joining a group of users who agree to clap, comment, or follow each other's work to increase visibility artificially is also against Medium's guidelines.
• Automated engagement: Using bots or computerized tools to clap, comment, or follow other users is another way accounts can be flagged.

Tip to Avoid: Focus on creating high-quality content that resonates with your target audience. Real engagement will come when readers genuinely enjoy your work. Organizing a readership may take time, but it's the only way to ensure the long-term success of your account.

1. Using ChatGPT or AI to Generate Entire Posts

While AI tools like ChatGPT can help brainstorm ideas or structure outlines, using them to generate entire posts on Medium can be risky. Medium prioritizes original, human-written content and has taken steps to prevent AI-generated content from flooding the platform. If Medium detects that a post has been generated entirely or mainly by AI, it may result in a warning or, in repeated cases, account suspension.

Tip to Avoid: Use AI sparingly for idea generation, but let your unique voice, insights, and expertise shine in your writing. Medium encourages writers to create authentic content that reflects their thoughts and creativity. If you use AI to help brainstorm, edit, and add your personal touch throughout the piece.

1. Duplicate Content

Publishing duplicate content—either copying from other sources or republishing the same content across multiple platforms without proper attribution—is another practice that can lead to account revocation. Medium has a "no duplicate content" policy to encourage originality and prevent plagiarism.

Tip to Avoid: If you want to republish your content from another platform, use Medium's "Import Story" feature. This feature maintains the canonical link to the original post, signaling to search engines that it's a republished piece. Always properly credit sources, especially if quoting or referencing another work, and refrain from copying other writers' content without permission.

Final Thoughts

Always aim to create original, valuable, and genuine content to maximize your time on Medium. By focusing on authentic engagement, respecting Medium's guidelines, and showcasing your unique voice, you'll build a reputation as a trustworthy writer on the platform and avoid the risk of account suspension.

Remember: Medium is a community-driven platform that values integrity and authenticity. Stick to these principles, and you'll be well on your way to success!