Should internet companies notify users every time they update their terms of service?

Medium’s current policy is to notify users when we make material changes to our Terms of Service. We also maintain a public history of every change, right down to typo fixes, on Github.

One of our users, Logan Koepke, pointed out the difficulty of determining whether a change is “material” and who gets to make that decision. Logan wondered if it might not be easier and more fair to users for companies to give notice of all changes, material or not.

Our reasoning for only updating users about material changes is that we want leeway to make small changes like correcting typos or adding clarifying language without spamming inboxes or defacing the site we work so hard to design beautifully. Our commit history on Github keeps us transparent and accountable, and users who want to know about all changes can always check there or set up alerts to be notified when they occur. Our sense is that many, if not most, users aren’t interested enough in non-substantive changes to click through a notice to read the updated terms.

That said, Logan makes the good point that, in practice, many companies, including Medium, only update the Terms of Service or Privacy Policy a couple times a year. We send users emails about content and features daily, so arguably letting them know about a minor change to our policies isn’t too bothersome if in exchange we gain user trust and help set a precedent for fairer and more transparent internet practices.

So, going forward we’ll notify users of all changes to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Expect an updated policy (and tracked changes in Github) to reflect this soon.