Checking in on our commitments to creators about Trust and Safety

For Patreon to succeed, we believe it is critical to get Trust and Safety right. Creators must trust Patreon and know that we will put creators first. Putting creators first on a platform is a balancing act. We have to make judgment calls about where to draw the line between an individual creator’s right to use Patreon and Patreon’s ability to be a home for all creators. These are tough policies to develop, and even tougher to enforce in a way that’s clear and fair to creators. We will strive to get this right, and we will always explain to our community why we’re taking the actions we take.

This summer, our CEO Jack made some public commitments regarding Patreon’s approach to Trust and Safety. Today, we’re updating you on the progress we’re making on these commitments. Here’s the quick overview of what’s new:

• We’ve expanded our public-facing Community Guidelines to share more specifics with you.
• We’re taking a clearer stance on some fringe areas of Adult Content.
• We implemented a better process for warning and guiding affected creators and content.

Let’s dive into each of these in more detail.

We’ve updated our public-facing Community Guidelines to share more specifics with you. We wanted to offer you more clarity and visibility into what we’re evaluating when we review reported content. So, we’re pulling back the curtain on the internal-facing guidelines we’ve been using for some time, and now the public-facing Community Guidelines have 3x the amount of information and detail.

As part of updating the Community Guidelines, we’re taking a clearer stance on some fringe areas of Adult Content. Over the past few months, there’s been a lot of discussion among our Trust and Safety team about how we can better articulate how we evaluate certain areas of content. It became evident that we needed to outline a clearer stance on some fringe adult content. With today’s update, we’re also being more clear about specific categories of fictional erotic content that Patreon cannot be used to support (including incest, bestiality, sexual depiction of minors, and suggestive sexual violence).

We want to be clear that this stronger stance on fringe content has surfaced a small number of creators that need to update their pages. And that’s where the next update on our Trust and Safety commitments comes in.

We have implemented a better process for warning and guiding affected creators and content. We think it’s important for all creators to have a second chance, so a lot of these updates have been focused on appeal and reinstatement. In addition, all communications with creators include a chance for appeal. Some key parts of this update include:

• Whenever possible, we’ll give creators a chance to change their Patreon page to bring the content back within the Community Guidelines. Aside from blatant violations of Community Guidelines (such as hosting terrorist content, doxing, or very clear hate speech), removing a Patreon page completely is a last resort after we’ve offered a chance to update the content.
• Creators will receive one-on-one guidance from a Trust and Safety Representative regarding the changes they need to make to reinstate their page.
• While creators are making changes, their Patreon page will be suspended but not deleted.
• Pledges will be paused and patrons will not be charged again until the page is reinstated.
• You can learn more about the entire appeal and reinstatement process here.

Of course, Adult Content creators — or any creator — with any concerns should read the new Community Guidelines, and please feel free to contact us at guidelines@patreon.com if you need clarification of those guidelines.

On another note, we know creators have fears about demonetization and we are sensitive to this. We stand behind the fact that Patreon is creator-first in everything we do. And we don’t just say that — it’s part of our culture. It’s in every line of code, and in every product and policy decision we make. We will always do everything we can to protect creators’ incomes. That means that some creators whose incomes are susceptible on other platforms — such as LGBTQ advocacy or commentary about tragedies in the news — should know they can find a home on Patreon. It’s for the sake of every creator that we’re extremely thoughtful about Trust and Safety, and it’s why we have made these commitments at all. And you can always talk to a person at Patreon. Literally. You can email us, and a human will respond and talk with you.

Speaking of those commitments, here’s where we are with progress on the other two:

• We’re on-track to double the size of the Trust & Safety team by the end of the year, which means you have more access to real people who can help regarding any concerns or issues.
• The Creator Council, a group of respected free speech advocates, is still taking shape. We’ve had some great conversations with a variety of experts and it’s clear there’s pent-up energy among creators for a conversation that’s thoughtful and unbiased. We look forward to making another announcement about this in the coming months.

We’ve spent a lot of time thinking through our commitments and how we can follow-through in the most creator-first way. Our intention is to be as clear as possible and show that you’ll always have a home on Patreon. We remain as committed as ever to providing regular updates on user guidelines and making sure we have cutting edge and innovative policies. We will continue to update you as we make progress.