The Platform That Censors the Truth

Since 2020, I’ve been writing on Medium. I’ve also been paying Medium a monthly membership fee for the “privilege” to read and support other writers. I believed in the platform’s promise: that it was a place for independent voices to publish thoughtful, meaningful work.

I wrote through unemployment, disability, and personal struggle—using Medium not just as a publishing tool, but as a lifeline. I built a loyal following. I published journalism that exposed systemic injustice, especially within the family court system—where corruption, due process violations, and state-enabled child separation are tragically real.

And just as my work started gaining traction and revenue, Medium abruptly suspended my account.

No warning. No explanation. Just a vague email from “Trust & Safety” saying I had violated their rules by identifying individuals in my reporting—without saying who, what, or where.

Let’s be clear: I didn’t post harassment. I didn’t publish threats. I didn’t dox anyone.

I published truth. I documented corruption. I exposed abuse of power. And for that, Medium tried to erase me.

Medium’s Censorship Isn’t About Safety—It’s About Control

After multiple messages asking what content triggered the suspension, Medium’s team refused to tell me. Instead, they made an impossible demand: “Remove all personally identifying information,” including names, emails, communications, and places of business—across all of my posts—before they would even review my account.

Think about that.

They want me to retroactively delete:

• The names of government employees acting under public authority.
• Judges, lawyers, and state agents involved in real, documentable misconduct.
• Quotes from public court records and verified interviews.

This is not content moderation.

This is editorial erasure.

This is corporate censorship masquerading as “safety.”

Worse, it’s a betrayal of Medium’s own stated mission to empower independent voices and meaningful writing.

Journalism Requires Naming Names—Censorship Requires Cowardice

As a journalist, I cannot comply with a blanket gag order. Journalism requires specificity. It demands accountability. When public officials abuse power, we don’t “redact” their titles—we publish the truth.

Medium’s policy is now so vaguely worded and arbitrarily enforced that no investigative writer can trust the platform. You could be writing an exposé one week and be digitally disappeared the next—no appeal, no hearing, no due process.

This is not a platform for journalism anymore. It’s a sanitized sandbox for corporate-friendly content that offends no one and challenges nothing.

Paying for a Membership Means Nothing

Let’s talk about Medium’s dirty little secret: Paying doesn’t protect you.

I paid a membership fee for years. I boosted their ecosystem. I supported other writers. I followed the rules. And still, with no warning, I was locked out, my stories hidden, my revenue gone, and my audience severed.

• Medium doesn’t care if you’ve built a body of work.
• Medium doesn’t care if you’re a paying customer.
• Medium doesn’t care if you’re doing real journalism.
• Medium cares about optics, liability, and silence.

Their “Trust & Safety” team has no name, no contact number, and no transparency. You’re guilty until proven invisible.

This Isn’t Just My Fight—It’s a Warning to Every Writer

If it happened to me, it can happen to anyone.

If you’re writing about injustice, power, or corruption—Medium is not your ally.

If you’re naming names or documenting harm—Medium will sell you out for risk mitigation.

In an era when independent journalism is more important than ever, we cannot build our work on platforms that demand we self-censor the truth just to exist.

Medium has shown us who they are. Believe them.

Where Do We Go From Here?

We don’t retreat. We rebuild elsewhere.

I’ve taken my writing to Substack and independent sites that still believe in the First Amendment and the value of truth—even when it makes people uncomfortable.

But I won’t forget what Medium did. And I won’t be silent about it.

They silenced my account. But not my voice.

To Medium: You’ve Failed Your Writers

You failed your paying users.

You failed your readers.

You failed every writer who trusted you to be more than a profit-driven gatekeeper.

When you punish journalists for naming officials and printing facts, you are not a platform. You are a pipeline for digital suppression—a dressed-up censorship machine in Silicon Valley clothes.

And that, not my journalism, is the real threat to public discourse.

—

Michael Phillips

Journalist, Advocate, Member of the National Writers Union, Former Medium Member

📍Follow my work now at: The Thunder Report/Gumroad/Substack