Patreon
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Patreon is a monetization platform co-founded in May 2013 by musician Jack Conte and developer Sam Yam. It is operated by Patreon, Inc.; which provides business tools for content creators to run subscription services and sell digital products. Patreon is most commonly known as a platform for various creators (artists, youtubers, etc.) to make money off their work in return for benefits such as getting content early, or accessing otherwise unavailable content. Patreon is often chosen by creators because of more creative freedom compared to other platforms like YouTube. It is also a more direct way to financially support them through subscription-based memberships and one time purchases.
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2013 |
| Legal Structure | Private |
| Industry | Business, Monetization |
| Also known as | |
| Official website | https://www.patreon.com |
Consumer impact summary
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Platform fees
editAs of August 4th, 2025, Patreon takes 5-12% from all purchases made within their platform. Creators can choose how purchases made on the App Store version of Patreon will implement Apple's 15%-30%[1] tax.[2]
Incidents
editThis is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Patreon category.
Arbitrary account suspensions (non-creator accounts)
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Many have reported being arbitrarily suspended from Patreon and thus prevented from supporting creators, for arbitrary or capricious reasons, unrelated to "bad faith" behavior. This sometimes happened seconds after signing up or months after using and paying on the platform.[3][4]
Suspension factors appear to include:
- Using a Mexican debit card [5]
- Using a VPN[3]
- Using IP from other country without updating country of residency[6]
After suspension, users are informed that they can appeal the suspension, but this leads to personal information being asked, namely: a name, location, ISP, payment method (last 4 card digits). The image shows an example of this information being requested.
Class action lawsuit (2022—2025)
editIn August 2024, it was reported that Patreon was required to pay $7.25 million dollars as a result of a 2022 lawsuit claiming the company violated the federal Video Privacy Protection Act by sending watched video history to the Meta pixel tracker.[7] In December 2024, the lawsuit turned into a class action, meaning anyone who accessed videos on Patreon from April 1, 2016 to Sept. 23, 2024 could join.[8] On August 22, 2025, the official website for the lawsuit stated, "The Court entered its Final Judgment and Order of Dismissal With Prejudice", with payments being made if there is no appeal of the final judgment as of August 29, 2025.[9]
Products
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See also
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References
edit- ↑ "Auto-renewable Subscriptions - App Store - Apple Developer". developer.apple.com. Archived from the original on 12 Jan 2026.
- ↑ "How iOS in-app purchases work on Patreon". Patreon Help Center. 3 Sep 2024. Archived from the original on 10 Jan 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Finally created a Patreon account, then was instantly suspended". Reddit. 10 Oct 2024.
- ↑ "Why soon as I joined not long after I get this,Account was deactivated : r/Patreon". Reddit. 15 Apr 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Recently created account got suspended for "suspicious activity" : /r/Patreon". Reddit. 21 May 2025. Archived from the original on 2025-05-31.
- ↑ "I am extremely confused about something patreon did. Can anyone help me and my buddy out?". Reddit. 14 Apr 2025. Archived from the original on 2025-05-31.
- ↑ Davis, Wendy (2024-08-05). "Patreon Settles Video Privacy Battle For $7.25 Million". MediaDailyNews. Archived from the original on 19 Jun 2025. Retrieved 2025-09-23.
- ↑ Millard, Katie (2024-12-04). "If you had a Patreon account, you may qualify for this payment". NBC4i. Archived from the original on 26 Sep 2025. Retrieved 2025-09-23.
- ↑ "Stark et al. v. Patreon, Inc". Archived from the original on 2025-09-23. Retrieved 2025-09-23.