The creator platform Patreon, which is home to many podcasters, has released its annual report offering insights into how it enforced its policies and dealt with bad actors. Patreon says it reviewed 71,022 creator pages for potential guideline violations last year, up significantly from 38,324 in the previous year. It led to 6,232 content-level enforcement actions, 673 account suspensions, and 1,708 account removals.
The second annual report covers policy enforcement efforts from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2024, offering what it says is a clear, numbers-driven view of how the site cultivates a “safe and thriving environment where creative communities can flourish.” Patreon did not release a breakout of how many of its enforcement actions were directed at podcasters. But it did offer a topline view of what got creators on the site in trouble with moderators.
The largest number of account removals came for violating Patreon’s teen safety rules, with 1,328 pages said to have violated that policy. Sexually explicit pages accounted for another 599 takedowns. It also removed a handful of pages for issues such as harassment (62 pages), hate speech (7 pages), and from organizations deemed dangerous (8 pages).
Patreon says when violations are identified, its moderators apply enforcement actions based on factors such as the severity and frequency of the violation. It says that ensures a “measured and creator-first approach” rather than a broad-stroke response. “Enforcement decisions follow established frameworks while allowing for case-by-case assessments to ensure fairness and consistency,” it says. Patreon also gives creators have up to six months to appeal all enforcement decisions.
“Unlike platforms that claim neutrality while letting bad actors take over, we enforce common-sense rules that foster creativity and meaningful engagement,” Patreon says in the report. “We actively moderate to keep Patreon free from harassment, extremism, and disruptive noise, so creators can focus on what matters most—expressing themselves freely, building their audience, and growing their businesses.”
Patreon received one government content-takedown request in 2024, which came from the Malaysian government, which it says lacked legal authority to trigger a response. That is fewer than the 14 international requests in received in 2023 from Germany, Spain, and Denmark.
Beyond content violations, Patreon says it also processed 1,047 notifications of claimed copyright infringement last year, which was a decrease from 1,804 in 2023. It also received 17 requests for information from U.S.-based agencies. Patreon says it complied with 100% of these requests, after each was reviewed and deemed to meet legal criteria triggering compliance. By comparison, only 50% of the 28 U.S.-based requests directed to Patreon in 2023 met legal criteria to trigger a response.
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