New policy updates, shaped by your input

Back in March, our Policy team proposed three updates to our guidelines. Today, we’re back to let you know which are now finalized as part of our Community Guidelines, and how your input helped shape these decisions.

Policy on non-consensual intimate imagery

Patreon has never tolerated non-consensual intimate imagery (sexual or pornographic imagery of an individual or individuals made and/or distributed without their consent). The Trust & Safety team has diligently combated this type of content historically, using other policies to do so. This quarter, the Policy team proposed additional language that would help define this type of content specifically.

Here’s where creators weighed in:

1. Creators endorsed our proposed carveout that would empower those whose work relates to non-consensual intimate imagery in the form of survival stories, educational resources, and/or advocacy.
2. Creators asked us to confirm that this policy does not apply to digitally generated people, fictional characters, or consensual Adult/18+ content. Indeed, it was designed to protect real human victims of offenses like upskirt, voyeuristic, and/or creepshot content.

You can find the new, finalized language in our Community Guidelines under “Bullying and Harassment.”

Teen safety on Patreon

We announced the news of our recent membership to the Tech Coalition, a global alliance of organizations that share a commitment to forging a safer internet for kids. We were also pleased to welcome Patreon’s Minor Safety Lead as a guest co-host of our quarterly policy livestream, where we previewed an update to the “Teen Safety” section of our Community Guidelines – namely, that a creator must be an adult in order to have a Patreon page that hosts modeling or “posing”-focused content where their appearance or body is the central visual focus.

This update prioritizes the safety of our youngest users, and we were happy that creators agreed. In our livestream, one attendee noted in the chat: “As an 18+ creator, I love that the team is taking minors’ safety seriously. Thank you for doing this work!”

Policy feedback opportunity: artificial intelligence

We know that many of our creators have strong points of view on AI, and many currently use AI in their creative process. The Policy team is crafting AI-related guidelines to address both the challenges and opportunities of this technology. As discussed in our recent blog and livestream, these efforts are grounded in principles like transparency, privacy, accountability, and ethics.

We want to ensure that we’re developing these guidelines with an understanding of the wide range of creator perspectives on AI. Today, we’re happy to share a feedback form offering creators a direct line to the Policy team to make their voices heard on the subject. Note: the form is in English, but if you respond in a different language, we’ll do our best to translate your input and capture your sentiments.

Looking ahead

The Policy team will take the next few months to focus on more long-term initiatives, and creators can expect the Creator Policy Engagement Program to return in the third quarter of the year. In the meantime, we encourage you to keep in touch with us, both about AI and in general, by emailing us at [email protected]. Thank you for being such a meaningful part of the Patreon community. Your generous policy feedback helps us keep Patreon a safe and welcoming place for creators and patrons.