AI companies are being blocked from scraping Patreon posts for training data. The platform now uses Cloudflare to stop unauthorized crawlers. Creators gain more control over how their work is used.
Patreon has taken new steps to protect creators’ work from being used without permission by artificial intelligence companies. The platform announced it is now partnering with Cloudflare to block AI training crawlers from accessing content published on Patreon, aiming to prevent unauthorized use of creator posts for AI model training.
Jack Conte, Patreon’s founder and CEO, said the update is already active at the network level across all posts. He emphasized that creators should have the right to decide how their work is used, and that credit, compensation, and consent are essential for any use by AI companies.
Drew Rowny, SVP of Product at Patreon, stated that most platforms force creators to accept AI training on their work in order to reach audiences. He explained that Patreon’s approach is different, allowing creators to grow their audience while maintaining control over how their content is used. Rowny added that the company is building on its collaboration with Cloudflare to block known AI training crawlers, while still permitting search crawlers that help creators get discovered.
Cloudflare, which provides cybersecurity and content delivery services, began blocking AI crawlers from accessing content without site owners’ consent by default last year. The company recently introduced new options for website owners to manage AI traffic, distinguishing between search, agent, and training bots. According to Cloudflare’s blog, all new domains onboarding to its services will have training and agent bots blocked by default on ad-supported pages, while search crawlers remain allowed.
Conte has previously addressed the lack of compensation for creators whose work is used to train AI models. He has argued that creators should have the ability to opt out, receive credit, and be paid when their work is used in this way, but said that currently, these rights are not guaranteed.
Patreon allows AI-generated works on its platform as long as they comply with its terms of use. In 2024, reports surfaced that some creators of nonconsensual AI-generated sexual content were monetizing their work on Patreon. The company updated its guidelines to clarify that AI-generated depictions of people are permitted if they are illustrated or animated, and hyperrealistic depictions are only allowed with documented explicit consent from real individuals.
Cloudflare did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the partnership. For more on how digital platforms are giving users greater control over their online experience, see this report on a browser extension that filters suspicious brands on Amazon: how Knockoff is changing Amazon shopping.
