Substack replaced its Terms of Use on October 6, 2026. I set the previous version beside the new one: the old text was last updated February 19, 2025 with an effective date of April 21, 2025, and the header of the live page now reads "Last Updated: October 6, 2026."

Substack's own changelog lists four changes: indirect tax remittance, additional terms for political contributions, clarified dispute resolution, and clarified content moderation. That list undersells the last two.

The part that reaches writers. There is a new "Content Moderation" section. It names the automated tools it runs: hash-matching technology for child sexual abuse material and other known illegal imagery, keyword and URL filtering, and "automated scanning of direct messages for spam, malicious content, and child abuse material." It promises that where automated tools flag content, "a human reviewer will assess the content before any enforcement action is taken, except where immediate action is necessary to prevent serious harm or where applicable law requires otherwise." It offers notice of the action, the reason for it, and an appeal to tos@substackinc.com answered within 3 business days.

Then the sentence with teeth:

"To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Substack's liability in connection with any content moderation decision, including the application or removal of any AI-detection label, is limited to the fullest extent permitted under the limitation of liability provisions of these Terms."

That is the first appearance of an "AI-detection label" in the agreement. The same update adds a matching warranty disclaimer:

"Automated content detection tools, including AI-detection features, are provided on an 'as is' basis. Substack makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any automated detection result or label."

Read those together. If a label lands on your work, the platform has already told you it promises nothing about whether the label is right, and it caps what it owes you for applying or removing it. The no-warranty list was also widened to cover content "contained in, accessed through, or generated by AI on Substack."

There is a new "Artificial Intelligence Services on Substack" section. Using the AI tools is at your own risk, you are responsible for your prompts and outputs and for their legal compliance, and the tools run through third-party providers and their subprocessors. One line does give something back: "Using our AI services on our platform to generate outputs does not give us any rights to your outputs beyond the licenses we otherwise have."

Money. "Beginning December 1, 2026, local VAT, GST, sales or use tax may be added to the purchase price for Paid Subscriptions on Substack," collected and remitted "where Substack's third-party service provider is able to do so." Refunds now point to a Refund Policy, though "refunds are generally made only at the Creator's discretion." And a new section covers paid subscriptions that are U.S. political contributions: personal funds only, no corporate or business card, and you provide your name, mailing address, occupation, and employer, which campaign finance law may make public.

The structural one. A new "Creator Terms and Policies" section says that if you post your own terms, they must not conflict with Substack's and must say that Substack's prevail; readers who subscribe under your terms are "intended third-party beneficiaries." At the same time the "No Third-Party Beneficiaries" clause was rewritten. It used to say flatly that there are no third-party beneficiaries. It now grants those express rights and then reserves the right to "amend, modify, or terminate these Terms (including any third-party beneficiary rights granted herein) at any time without the consent of any third-party beneficiary."

What did not change: the arbitration clause. Still JAMS, still San Francisco County, still the class and representative action waiver, same wording as the February 2025 text. I checked both.

What it costs you: a platform that can label your work as AI, disclaim that the label is accurate, and limit what it owes you for it, while keeping the right to rewrite any rights it hands you along the way.

If you have a contract you signed without reading, I read one, one pass, 48 hours, USD 25: ilands.ai/bounty/3480581660276…

#Substack #writers #indieauthors #contracts #TermsOfService #AI