Creator Coverage Engagement Program Replace: This fall 2021

Final month, we introduced and hosted a livestream in regards to the Coverage Staff’s two focus areas for the fourth quarter of the yr: Mastercard’s new necessities for platforms like Patreon that host 18+/grownup content material, and our proposed pointers replace to permit for creator cash as a membership profit. A whole lot of creators shared concepts, questions, and enter over the previous few weeks. Learn on for updates and subsequent steps from the Coverage Staff, in addition to a preview of what’s to return in 2022.

Mastercard’s Necessities Affecting Grownup/18+ Creators

Aspiring to fight unlawful content material like revenge porn and Little one Sexual Abuse Materials, Mastercard is requiring grownup/18+ creators to offer sure info which is essential for his or her facilitation of transactions for our creators. The 2 key necessities affecting grownup/18+ creators, which start Friday, October 15, 2021, are:

1. Age & Identification Verification (relevant to ALL creators categorized as grownup/18+)
   Mastercard requires all grownup/18+ creators to verify their date of delivery and identification by offering a type of government-issued identification. We’ll be working with trusted third-party firms specializing in information safety for such a delicate content material. Grownup/18+ creators on the platform shall be notified when it’s time to add their identification.
2. Consent Documentation (relevant to SOME* creators categorized as grownup/18+)
   Mastercard requires grownup/18+ creators to doc that any actual folks visually showing of their content material are adults who’ve consented to the content material’s creation and distribution. Creators ought to receive and retain this consent documentation and have the ability to produce it upon request. This requirement applies to content material printed Friday, October 15, 2021 onward.
   *Grownup/18+ creators whose work options visible depictions of actual folks (pictures and video content material, for instance, versus audio or animated content material).

Enter and candor from grownup/18+ creators following final month’s announcement and livestream helped us develop the next assets tailor-made to your particular wants.

Throughout the Coverage Staff’s main suggestions channels, you submitted tons of of questions. 

• To offer readability for as many grownup/18+ creators as attainable, we compiled and answered the commonest questions in a Assist Heart article designed to be a permanent useful resource. We’ll replace the Assist Heart article with any further particulars and assets that come up.

Some grownup/18+ creators have been unsure whether or not one or each of Mastercard’s necessities apply to them individually.

• To attenuate uncertainty, we have now recognized grownup/18+ creators on the platform who’re affected not solely by the Age and Identification Verification requirement, but additionally by the Consent Documentation requirement (see above for particulars). We’ll talk this to these creators particularly.

Grownup/18+ creators who must adjust to the Consent Documentation requirement have been extraordinarily enthusiastic in regards to the prospect of Patreon offering a authorized template so that you can use.

• Working with our Authorized Staff, we developed that template, which to your comfort we’ve translated into a number of totally different languages. The template may even be out there within the Assist Heart article for creators to simply entry.

Sure grownup/18+ creators shared that though they’re categorized as grownup/18+, beneath our Neighborhood Pointers, their content material doesn’t seem to require the categorization.

• Our Belief & Security group is open to reviewing the pages of creators whose content material can feasibly be recategorized from grownup/18+ to “secure for work,” or applicable for all audiences. Attain out to Pointers@Patreon.com for particulars.

Some grownup/18+ creators famous the coverage livestream’s emphasis on the Mastercard necessities and requested for programming or assets to deal with a few of their extra common questions.

• We don’t contemplate that livestream to be the top of grownup/18+ particular coverage communications and welcome creator ideas on further codecs that will be helpful. Within the meantime, we encourage grownup/18+ creators to be a part of our Discord, which incorporates a dozen channels dedicated to supporting and interesting the grownup/18+ creator group. You can too electronic mail questions on your particular content material to Pointers@Patreon.com.

Creator Cash as a Membership Profit

This quarter, the Coverage Staff additionally gauged creator curiosity in a pointers replace to provide the choice to supply social tokens developed with a 3rd celebration as a membership profit. Dozens of creators reached out with concepts and questions on what this might appear like in apply. From unique occasions to merchandise and past, creators have already began speaking about how they could use creator cash to attach with their patrons in new and distinctive methods. In gentle of this creator curiosity, we have now added language to our Advantages Pointers providing you with that choice. And knowledgeable by creator enter, we additionally specify that these cash might not be supplied as a part of any type of funding scheme, or to instantly profit creators or patrons financially.

Some creators requested whether or not this meant Patreon would permit for funds to be made through cryptocurrency, or whether or not NFTs can be concerned, neither of which is the case (the replace would focus particularly on creators providing tokens as a profit). Others requested in regards to the environmental affect of creators creating creator cash (we’re exploring, amongst different options, avenues that may offset any ensuing emissions). You could find solutions to creator questions like these and extra on this Assist Heart article we developed, which we are going to replace with additional particulars as they develop.

Trying Forward to 2022

Along with supporting the event of our content material coverage, the subsequent iteration of our Creator Coverage Engagement Program will have interaction you within the growth of a public coverage platform that places creators first. Within the coming weeks and months, we’ll be hiring coverage leads in Washington, D.C. and areas around the globe, to help these efforts. We’ll be again quickly with extra particulars on how one can get entangled.

Thanks, creators, for an additional quarter of suggestions that has enriched Patreon’s coverage growth. You probably have any questions, or wish to share early concepts for our public coverage platform, drop us a be aware at CreatorPolicy@Patreon.com.