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Patreon, the platform catering to creators, has announced a significant initiative to counteract artificial intelligence (AI) scraping of its content. On Thursday, the company revealed its collaboration with Cloudflare, an internet services provider, to block AI bots that seek to use creators’ work for training AI models without obtaining permission.
These enhanced measures respond to the increasing sophistication of AI scraping methods since the initial deterrents were implemented in 2023. Patreon’s paywall has traditionally helped keep most of its creators’ content inaccessible to crawlers, but the introduction of features such as a revamped Home Feed and new tweet-like Quips may have inadvertently exposed more material to these bots.
The adjustments coincide with a broader recognition among online content creators and publishers of how AI systematically absorbs their work to improve its models. Cloudflare has responded by providing tools that enable site publishers to limit AI bot access. This includes a new marketplace where publishers can set fees for scraping, named Pay Per Crawl. Recently, the company revised its policies so that “mixed-use” crawlers—those that both index and learn from site content—are now universally blocked on ad-supported pages.
Patreon is using its partnership with Cloudflare by employing the company’s AI Crawl Control technology, thus updating its policies and tools aimed at managing AI interaction with its content. The platform is moving beyond simply suggesting adherence to its robots.txt files, which guide bots on site usage; it is now actively preventing AI training bots from accessing its material.
A statement from a Patreon blog post emphasizes this new stance, asserting that consent should not hinge on whether a scraper abides by requests. According to the blog, tests revealed that the weekly number of AI training crawlers attempting to access Patreon declined from “thousands to zero,” suggesting that these scrapers ignored requests outlined in the robots.txt file.
However, the company clarified that it will continue to permit bots that index its pages and facilitate users’ return to the platform.
“As AI becomes increasingly prevalent and powerful, creators should have a significant say regarding how their work is used by AI entities,” stated Drew Rowny, Patreon’s product chief. “Unlike much of the Internet, where creators often have to concede to AI training on their content merely for audience reach, Patreon envisions a system where creators can expand their audience while maintaining control over their work’s use.”
