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Patreon Adult Content Crackdown Spurred by 'Payment Partners'

Patreon's payment partners include PayPal and Stripe, but Motherboard says 'the pressure to turn sex workers away comes from major banking networks.' The crackdown comes after Patreon in October made its rules around porn a lot stricter.

 & Angela Moscaritolo Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

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Facing pressure from its payment partners, Patreon is, once again, cracking down on adult content.

As Motherboard reported Thursday, a number of adult content creators have been suspended from the crowdfunding site for "implied nudity" as of late. Now, we know why.

"We have been ramping up the proactive review of content on Patreon due to requirements from our payment partners," a Patreon spokesperson told PCMag in an email. "Our community guidelines have not changed, and when we discover a page that is not in compliance with our guidelines we place that page in a state of suspension and work directly with the creator to bring them back within our guidelines."

Patreon added that it has "doubled the size" of its support team so it can "get back to creators and give them 1-1 guidance as fast as humanly possible."

Patreon's payment partners include PayPal and Stripe, but Motherboard says "the pressure to turn sex workers away comes from major banking networks."

The crackdown comes after Patreon in October updated its community guidelines to make its rules around porn a lot stricter.

"You can't use Patreon to raise funds in order to produce pornographic material such as maintaining a website, funding the production of movies, or providing a private webcam session," the updated policy reads. Users are also prohibited from selling "pornographic material or arranging sexual services" as a reward for their patrons.

Motherboard spoke to one adult content creator affected by the crackdown who said Patreon didn't even offer a warning before suspending their account for "public nudity."

"I didn't get any warnings, just an email and notification that my account was suspended," the photogropher, Kate Victoria, told the news outlet. Victoria also claims she didn't even have any fully nude images publicly available.

"There wasn't a single nude body part showing that I would consider to be adult-orientated," she said.

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade. 

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes. 

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app. 

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth. 

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light. 

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

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