Consumer Rights Wiki

Brainly

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Brainly (originally Zadane.pl) is a Polish company and platform founded in 2009 by Michał Borkowski dedicated towards students assisting each other for homework online. In recent years, the platform has come under controversy from its users for various issues, from not honoring canceled plans to facilitating the usage of AI (instead of the platform's community).

Brainly
Basic information
Founded 2009
Legal Structure Private
Industry Education
Also known as
Official website https://brainly.com/

Consumer impact summary

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  • Freedom: Accessing content requires creating a free account, and some community-generated answers are additionally paywalled behind a subscription tier. Account deletion has also been reported to also be tedious.[Why?][citation needed (12 Mar 2026)]
  • Privacy: Unknown[How?]; user-generated content is difficult to request removal.
  • Market control: Limited competition. Brainly has had some history purchasing competitor websites such as OpenStudy,[1][2] and soon after deleting them.[citation needed (21 Mar 2026)]

Incidents

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This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Brainly category.

Concerning TOS

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According to the Terms of Use (TOU) of Brainly,[3][4] any content a user generates for the platform may be sub-licensed out to third parties, and all content generated for the platform has its license preserved even if the consumer's account is deleted, either through an unannounced removal, or the consumer requesting their account to be deleted. Additionally, users are bound under arbitration when it comes to legal disputes against Brainly.

Users within the EU are treated more fairly in their TOS,[4] however it is inaccessible to users living outside of the EU for reference.

Emphasis on AI generated content over user-generated content (2023—2024)

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Editor's note: Needs fixes!

In early 2024, Brainly experienced a transition towards favoring AI generated content for the platform,[5] however earlier in mid-to-late 2023, they integrated an excessive amount of generative AI tools within the site,[6] from AI-powered tutors, to encouraging answers to be generated on question pages by AI. A significant portion of the content originally published to the platform has also been used for the purposes of assisting these AI tools.[5]

Concerning SEO measures

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Editor's note: may delete this section, please discuss in discuss tab!

Brainly has a problematically large amount of web domains that they own,[citation needed - Company articles need NPOV (12 Mar 2026)][7] and combined with searching online for assistance with homework questions showing a considerably higher quota of results pointing to the platform, it is difficult for consumers on any of the three most popular search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo!) to evade the platform in search results. This is statistically even higher when questions from online learning platforms such as Edgenuity or Odysseyware are inputted into web searches.[citation needed]

Auto-renewal deceptive billing

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Reported by consumers on several platforms, including the Better Business Bureau (BBB),[8] Trustpilot,[9] and Complaints Board,[10] Brainly has repeatedly charged users for premium content after they cancelled their subscription.[11] Notably seen on the BBB, a user had an account charged by Brainly, with no refunds despite the account being fraudulently created with their credentials.[12] Another user cited difficulties to stop charges to their account as well.[13]

Users attempting to use customer service have also reported being locked into speaking with an AI assistant to handle their billing problems.[11]

Difficulty to delete one's own published content

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On the platform, content published by users is impossible to delete, regardless of whether it was a question or an answer, and this content cannot be modified once published either. Additionally, attempting to remove one's account does not effectively delete this content, as-is mentioned in the TOS.[4][3]

Some reviews have also mentioned difficulties with the platform allowing users to delete their accounts.[14] This problem is additionally inflated due to the only accessible way to contact site staff being the AI assistant.[11]

Access limits

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Content that was initially offered to users for free, especially user-generated content, has had its accessibility become questionable. Some content initially published for free has seen it transitioned into content only accessible to premium or "legacy" accounts.[15][16] Additionally, there are harsh limits imposed on "free" users who wish to look up answers, as the platform currently limits accessing content to one question per day.[17]

Advertising overload

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Main article: Advertising overload
 
A screenshot of the notification tab, where Brainly is advertising its extension, and Adobe Creative Cloud.

Since the start of the 2020s, Brainly has introduced progressively more pervasive advertisements on their platform, from some simple static advertisements initially, to massively obstructive ads that have made using the platform nearly impossible.[citation needed (12 Mar 2026)][18][19] Some ads are even visible in the notification tab, which forces advertisement notifications to be focused at the top, meaning users are forced to be advertised just to check their notifications.

Below are some general examples of the platform's advertising overload problems.

  •  
    A screenshot of a question page as of 5 May 2025.
  •  
    A screenshot showing an obstructive advertisement.
  •  
    A screenshot showing content blocked behind a premium ad for 'Brainly Plus'.

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Brainly Acquires US Social Learning Platform, OpenStudy". EdSurge. 14 Jun 2016. Archived from the original on 24 Jan 2026. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.
  2. ↑ Marketwired (14 Jun 2016). "Social Learning Platform OpenStudy Joins the Brainly Community". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on 5 Oct 2016. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Terms of Use". Brainly. 10 Feb 2025. Archived from the original on 27 Mar 2025. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Brainly". Terms of Service; Didn't Read. Archived from the original on 18 Oct 2025. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Ravaglia, Ray (23 Jan 2024). "Brainly Evolving From Questions And Answers To AI Learning Companion". Forbes. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ↑ Lucariello, Kate (14 Sep 2023). "Brainly Adds AI-Powered Tools to Its Platform". The Journal. Archived from the original on 8 Nov 2023. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.
  7. ↑ "DomainIQ WhoIs lookup". DomainIQ. Retrieved 5 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ↑ "Brainly.com - BBB Complaints". Better Business Bureau. Archived from the original on 21 Oct 2025. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.
  9. ↑ "Brainly Reviews". TrustPilot. Archived from the original on 24 Oct 2025. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.
  10. ↑ "Brainly Reviews and Complaints". Complaints Board. Archived from the original on 22 Oct 2025. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Miller, Emma (8 Mar 2024). "A Brief Overview Of Brainly Academic Service". NoCramming. Archived from the original on 27 May 2024. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.
  12. ↑ Anonymous (14 Jun 2024). "BBB Complaint". Better Business Bureau. Archived from the original on 22 Mar 2026. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.
  13. ↑ Brown, K. "Brainly Review: Poor Customer Service & Technical Difficulties Result in Bad Experience". Complaints Board. Retrieved 5 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ↑ Frostism (4 Apr 2025). "Unable to delete account". TrustPilot. Archived from the original on 8 Jul 2025. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.
  15. ↑ U., Anonymous (16 Oct 2020). "Paying for Education". SmartCustomer. Archived from the original on 22 Mar 2026. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.
  16. ↑ One (14 Jan 2025). "Don't pay for this, it is useless and unhelpful". TrustPilot. Archived from the original on 8 Jul 2025. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.
  17. ↑ H., James (26 Apr 2023). "One answer a day". SmartCustomer. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ↑ Schiller, W. (2 Mar 2024). "The most horrible and desperate site I've ever been on". Complaints Board. Archived from the original on 19 Apr 2024. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.
  19. ↑ L., Jennifer (22 Dec 2020). "Terrible!". SmartCustomer. Retrieved 21 Mar 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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