Patreon’s Belief and Security Initiatives

Our mission at Patreon is straightforward: we wish to fund the artistic class. We eat, sleep, and breathe that mission on daily basis. We wish to get as many creators paid as doable, to allow them to get pleasure from sustainable revenue, retain artistic management of their work, and hold a direct connection to their viewers.

It’s not sufficient to simply do it, although. We now have to fund the artistic class in a protected and safe method. Belief and Security is an important piece of what we do, but it surely isn’t at all times the very first thing folks consider after they consider Patreon. We’re dedicated to constructing essentially the most creator-first belief and security crew on the earth, and are happy with the folks we now have main this mission. We try to put in writing creator-first insurance policies and execute them in a way that’s human, considerate, and finest for almost all of our creators, and we stand behind our content material insurance policies. Our insurance policies are a assured assertion of what we imagine and what we wish to encourage on our platform.

I’d prefer to share with you some key components of our Belief and Security crew and course of. Let’s check out:

1. Variety of thought on the crew
2. Coverage creation
3. Determination making
4. Communication with creators
5. Appeals course of
6. Objectives for 2019

1. Variety of thought on the crew

One factor we prioritize when hiring teammates is that they’ve a posh and considerate course of, and might maintain opposing thought arguments. Easy black-and-white opinions aren’t helpful in our line of labor, so we give attention to hiring and maintaining individuals who can see and communicate “gray” and course of context, which means, and nuance when coming to a choice on content material that’s funded on and thru our platform. In our interview course of, candidates undergo workout routines so we will see their expertise in motion. Then we hone these expertise by weekly collaborations and periods with different inner groups to make sure we now have thought-about all elements of a given state of affairs earlier than taking motion.

2. Coverage creation

We now have many content material insurance policies overlaying a variety of topics. We work arduous to make sure that our insurance policies and choices don’t embody any kind of bias, and that we implement our content material insurance policies pretty, whatever the creator. Moreover, every creator who’s notified that they’re in violation of our tips is given an opportunity to enchantment our choices. We don’t take our choices frivolously. We attain out personally to creators who’ve violated our tips, and normally creators are given an opportunity to deliver their content material again in keeping with our tips. This course of is helpful for each the creator and Patreon; we had been in a position to recuperate $200,000 in creator earnings in December 2018, for instance.

We’re additionally very happy with how profitable we’re at working with creators and bringing them again into compliance with our insurance policies. We get requested if we’d think about a ‘Three strikes, you’re out’ coverage — we don’t have one as a result of we have already got strategy of enchantment that’s profitable in a overwhelming majority of circumstances. Working straight with creators is essentially the most private and efficient technique of bringing content material into compliance. We do get issues improper typically, and we come clean with that. Our whole mission is to fund the artistic class; the insurance policies in place at the moment are fully in keeping with that mission. Going ahead, nothing about that assertion will change. We’ll proceed to suppose deeply about insurance policies and make considerate choices about each web page.

3. Determination making course of

When there’s a potential violation of our group tips, our Belief and Security crew works tirelessly to deliberate and talk about all the proof and context essential to decide. For delicate removals, our management crew critiques the proof and discusses whether or not the coverage is appropriately aligned with our Neighborhood Tips.

4. Communication with creators about takedowns

We delight ourselves on being a creator-first firm, and are dedicated to speaking straight with creators when there is a matter. It’s a course of that includes human contact at each degree. Patreon is the paycheck for our creators; it’s an enormous accountability that we take extraordinarily severely, particularly when making choices that have an effect on a creator’s web page and livelihood. When contemplating a “takedown” (when somebody is taken off the Patreon platform), we’ve developed a course of that could be very handbook — actual folks evaluate each account and be certain that a number of colleagues and consultants evaluate each takedown. Whereas we now have automated techniques that proactively evaluate the positioning for potential violations, they don’t catch every thing, so we depend on consumer stories to assist us establish violations of our group tips. You’ll be able to at all times submit a web page for us to evaluate for those who see one thing that violates our group tips.

5. Appeals course of

Patreon must be best-in-class at Belief and Security, and we’re consistently setting the bar of requirements greater for ourselves and different platforms. Meaning we’ll hold enhancing as we evolve as a enterprise. We imagine transparency is essential, and are proud to have been extra clear than most firms about takedowns and different Belief and Issues of safety. And, we’ll proceed to coach our group about these powerful choices. We wish to let our group know why we make the choices we do, even when they aren’t in style. We wish to be clear about our tips and choices, even when members of our group don’t agree with them.

6. Patreon Belief and Security Objectives for 2019

The upcoming 12 months comes with new targets, certainly one of which is to take you, the group, behind the scenes to know what occurs on the earth of Patreon. We’re happy with the folks we now have engaged on these points, how we take into consideration insurance policies, and wish to share our processes and hold you knowledgeable on our considering. Our purpose is to make sure our platform is funding essentially the most creators doable, and that we reform as many outside-guidelines creators as we probably can. With the intention to attain that large purpose, it’s vital that everybody in our ecosystem understands our tips in-depth in order that there aren’t any surprises. We’re prioritizing instructional and informative weblog posts on these subjects, and shall be sharing articles all year long to share our logic, thought course of, and choices with you.

We’re so happy with the nice work we see creators doing on daily basis, and we’re honored to be a accomplice in your artistic enterprise. We look ahead to the journey forward, collectively. Right here’s to a 2019 stuffed with perception, inspiration, and success.