What adult creators need to know about Patreon’s new age and consent verification rules

Patreon is set to roll out a new set of new tools and procedures for adult content creators selling material on the site, to keep it in line with new rules about explicit content from financial bodies and credit card companies.

The site, which creators can sell adult content on but which has more conservative content rules than rivals such as OnlyFans, will require creators selling explicit content to verify that they are over the age of 18. They will also have to provide verification that anyone in their adult content consented to being in it.

The rules will apply to content already on the site, plus any uploaded in the future.

The move makes Patreon the latest site to toughen up its age and consent rules, following Mastercard demanding that sites the credit card company works with make proper creator and performer verifications.

Announcing the move, Patreon stated that it was not banning adult content. The company said: “It’s important to us that adult/18+ creators can continue earning income on Patreon.”

Patreon added that it was fielding input from creators about the development of tools that will aid processes to have creators comply with the new rules.

Although Patreon is largely known for offering paid-for content such as exclusive podcast episodes, you can use it to sell adult content in a similar way to OnlyFans. Adult content is flagged as ‘18+’, and content featuring adult nudity is allowed.

Porn is banned from the site, with Patreon defining pornographic material on its community guidelines page as: “Real people engaging in sexual acts such as masturbation or sexual intercourse on camera.”

Patreon allows potentially offensive and graphic art creations on its site, but they are reviewed by moderators for suitability. Works depicting incest, necrophilia or “fetish creations that are hard to distinguish from non-consensual sex” are not allowed.

There has been a backlash against Mastercard for introducing the tougher new age and consent verification rules, with many sex workers slamming the company for potentially making it tougher for legitimate workers to earn online.

OnlyFans recently announced that new financial rules had led the website to ban sexually explicit content from the site, but quickly reversed the decision following an online backlash.

Patreon said in its statement announcing their forthcoming changes: “We understand these requirements can feel overwhelming, which is why in the coming weeks and months, we’ll be rolling out tools and procedures to make the process as easy as possible.”

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