This is the legal agreement between you and Patreon that governs how you can use the platform, whether you are a creator earning money or a patron supporting creators. It covers what you can post, how payments work, and what happens if there is a dispute — including a clause that requires you to resolve most disputes through arbitration rather than in court. There are important provisions about fees, content ownership, and Patreon's right to suspend or close your account.
Technical Summary
Patreon's Terms of Use (effective December 14, 2023) govern the contractual relationship between Patreon, Inc. and all users of its membership platform, covering both creators and patrons. The document establishes rules for account creation, content standards, payment processing, intellectual property licensing, and platform conduct. Notable provisions include a mandatory arbitration clause with class action waiver, broad content licensing rights granted to Patreon, creator responsibility for tax compliance on earnings, and Patreon's right to terminate accounts or remove content at its discretion. The terms also address platform fee structures, refund policies, and distinctions between Patreon's role as a payment processor versus a marketplace participant.
Institutional Analysis
The document engages with GDPR and CCPA through its privacy-adjacent provisions, and implicates FTC consumer protection standards via its fee disclosure and refund policy. The mandatory arbitration a…
The document engages with GDPR and CCPA through its privacy-adjacent provisions, and implicates FTC consumer protection standards via its fee disclosure and refund policy. The mandatory arbitration and class action waiver provisions carry litigation exposure risk and should be assessed against appl…
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If you have a dispute with Patreon, you must resolve it through individual arbitration rather than going to court. You also cannot join a class action lawsuit against Patreon.
Creators are solely responsible for determining, collecting, and paying any applicable taxes on their Patreon earnings, and must comply with all relevant tax laws.
Patreon can suspend or terminate your account at any time, with or without notice, if it believes you have violated the terms or for other reasons at its discretion.
Patreon limits its financial liability to you to the amount you paid in fees in the 12 months before the claim, and disclaims liability for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages.
When you post content on Patreon, you give Patreon a worldwide, royalty-free license to use, display, reproduce, and distribute that content for the purposes of operating the platform.
Patreon can update or change these terms at any time, and your continued use of the platform after changes are posted means you agree to the new terms.
These terms are governed by the laws of California, and disputes that are not subject to arbitration must be brought in courts located in San Francisco, California.