ProPublica Terms Scorecard

Grade B — Fair terms (score 75/100)

ProPublica maintains a perpetual, irrevocable license to user-submitted content and reserves the right to terminate access at any time without notice.

Perpetual content license and broad termination rights. No data sale.

Terms at a glance

Sells your data
NO
Forced arbitration
NO
Trains AI on your content
UNCLEAR
Collects biometric data
NO
Shares data with government
YES
Easy to cancel
UNCLEAR
Tells you before changes
NO
Deletes data on request
UNCLEAR

What the terms actually say

READER-SUBMITTED CONTENT

You hereby grant ProPublica the following perpetual and irrevocable non-exclusive rights in the Content: the right to reproduce, display, distribute, perform and transmit the Content... including such use by ProPublica’s partners and affiliates.

When you submit content, you give ProPublica and its partners a permanent, unchangeable right to use, modify, and distribute it worldwide in any media forever, without payment.

TERMINATION

We reserve the right to terminate the site and this policy at any time without notice for any reason.

ProPublica can shut down your access to the site or terminate the agreement at any time, for any reason, without giving you prior notice.

GOVERNING LAW

You agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts sitting in the State and County of New York and waive any jurisdictional, venue, or inconvenient forum objections to such courts.

You are forced to resolve all legal disputes in New York courts, regardless of where you live, and you cannot argue that this location is unfair or inconvenient.

PRIVACY POLICY

If we believe it is reasonably necessary, we may read, preserve, and disclose your information to comply with the law, including to respond to law enforcement.

ProPublica reserves the right to share your personal information with law enforcement or government entities if they deem it necessary.

PRIVACY POLICY

ProPublica does not share, trade, sell, or otherwise release donors’ personal information to any third parties.

ProPublica explicitly commits to not selling or trading the personal information of its donors.

Last reviewed 2026-08-05 under rubric v3.5.

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