Patreon’s Transparency Report for 2023

As part of our most recent Creator Policy Engagement Program (CPEP) update, we asked creators for input regarding the types of details and data that they would find illuminating. Creators expressed interest in how Patreon addresses illegal, harmful, or otherwise violative works as well as the processes we’ve implemented to deliver trust and safety measures that are robust and creator-first. We hope that this first annual Transparency Report will help people on and off Patreon better understand and trust the processes we have in place to protect our community.

Guidelines development

Patreon’s Terms of Use, including our Community Guidelines and Benefits Guidelines, exist to explain the sorts of works and behavior that are acceptable on the platform, the types of benefits and opportunities creators can offer their communities, and how everyone can expect to be treated on Patreon. In addition to our own guidelines, Patreon complies with international laws and regulations to keep the platform safe and welcoming for creators and their communities. The Policy Team regularly reviews our guidelines to ensure they’re as modern, inclusive, and creator-first as possible.

To incorporate creators into the policy development process, the team has built the Creator Policy Engagement Program (CPEP). CPEP’s unique model involves policy-related communications with creators multiple times each year in which the team seeks out creator feedback on proposed policy updates. To gather this feedback, the team hosts frequent policy livestreams and other policy conversations with creators. The team also fields feedback through creator office hours, intimate conversations with creators in A. Club (peer accountability groups led by creators, for creators) and through a team email account. These feedback channels empower creators to offer commentary around ongoing and future guidelines updates as we aim to foster an open dialogue and transparency into policy decision-making. The Policy Team then uses that feedback to help inform the policy updates before finalizing them.

Guidelines enforcement

We are mindful that these policies can impact creative expression and the livelihoods of creators on our platform. Most creators stay well within Patreon’s guidelines and do not hear from Trust & Safety — the team that enforces Patreon guidelines — at all.

Detecting possible guidelines violations

There are two main ways that Patreon’s Trust & Safety Team is alerted about creative works that potentially violate Patreon guidelines:

1. Reports submitted by creators, fans, external advocacy groups, and the general public.
2. Detection by our vendors, tooling, and automated processes.

Moderation actions in response to guidelines violations

Patreon goes to great lengths to enforce platform guidelines with fairness, education, and compassion in mind. When a creator’s work falls outside the bounds of Patreon’s Community Guidelines, the Trust & Safety Team’s enforcement actions are determined by the severity of the violation.

In low severity cases, Trust & Safety moderators allow the violative work to remain visible while they give the creator time to make any necessary changes, guiding them through the process as needed. This creator-first approach is unique within the industry. The violative work will become hidden from public view after 72 hours if the creator does not make approved changes.

In moderate severity cases, the Trust & Safety Team removes the specific violative post from fan view so the violation can be addressed.

High severity violations of Patreon guidelines may result in a creator’s suspension or removal from the platform, in some cases without the ability to appeal, collect payouts, or interact further with their fan community.

Patreon implemented the different types of moderation actions listed above partway through 2023. Next year’s Transparency Report, which will cover 2024, will include data on the different moderation actions taken within each vertical during the full year.

A note on teen safety

At Patreon, we have zero tolerance for teen safety violations and we’re committed to creating a safe place for creators and their fans to share what they’re passionate about. As part of a multi-year effort, we have invested in a dedicated Teen Safety Team, as well as automated detection and vendor support, all focused on identifying and addressing teen safety concerns. We also actively partner with industry-leading organizations dedicated to fighting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online, such as Thorn and the Tech Coalition, and regularly report our findings to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). To learn more about Teen Safety at Patreon, refer to our Teen Safety policy update prohibiting teen modeling pages.

Enforcement actions taken

There were 38,324 pages subject to review by Patreon’s Trust & Safety Team in 2023, of which 3,638 accounts were suspended for violating our guidelines, and 3,089 creator pages required content to be removed or modified. The following table depicts the outcome of our moderation efforts by vertical. The metrics are reflective of Patreon’s commitment to monitoring and enforcing stringent safety measures and elevated vigilance in certain verticals, such as teen safety and pornography. Safeguarding minors from explicit or harmful material is of paramount importance, and we do not allow pornography on our platform.

Notifications of claimed copyright infringement

Patreon receives notifications of claimed copyright infringement from copyright claimants and their agents asking us to remove material that they allege infringes their copyrights. We received and processed 1,804 compliant notifications of claimed copyright infringement in 2023. Learn more about this process here.

Requests from governments and law enforcement

When Patreon receives requests for user information from law enforcement or government agencies, we balance fulfilling our legal obligations with protecting the privacy of our users.

To trigger a responsive production from Patreon, requests for information must be signed, issued pursuant to valid and applicable legal authority, properly served on Patreon’s agent for service of process, and contain sufficient identifying information to allow Patreon to locate the subject account. Non-US requests for information must also be domesticated under a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, letter of request, or US code (section 1782), as appropriate.

In 2023, Patreon received:

• 28 requests for information from US-based agencies, around 50% of which satisfied Patreon’s criteria for responsive production
• 14 requests for information from foreign agencies (10 requests from Germany, two from Spain, one from Mexico, and one from Denmark), none of which satisfied Patreon’s criteria for responsive production.
• 5 content takedown requests from government agencies. These requests exclusively came from governments lacking legal authority to compel Patreon to act and thus triggered no response.

Data and privacy protections

At Patreon, we take privacy seriously and provide quick and easy-to-use self-serve tools for all customers looking to access their personal data. They can do so simply by clicking on the take control button in our Privacy Center, which enables them to submit authenticated privacy requests.

We received 13,055 such data subject access requests in 2023. We also have a dedicated team to answer individuals’ privacy queries, help facilitate requests, and provide additional information and assistance through our privacy@patreon.com email alias.

To learn more about privacy at Patreon, you can always contact us at privacy@patreon.com. We also encourage you to read more about how we collect, use, and share personal data in our Privacy Policy.

Looking ahead

Patreon is proud to deliver transparency for creators when it comes to the development and enforcement of the guidelines that keep the platform safe. We are eager to dialogue with the creator community about this and upcoming transparency reports and hope that this work will play a small role in contributing to a safer internet overall.