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At Patreon, we are incredibly grateful for the wealth of talent and creativity our teen users bring to the platform. We want to be a space where young creators feel confident expressing themselves, without their safety and privacy being at risk. That’s why we are making a concerted effort to ensure teens are protected and any concerns are addressed swiftly and seriously. We’re growing our tools, policies, and processes so they have both young people’s safety and creative development in mind. Here are some resources we’ve put together to help solidify exactly how we’re advocating for young creatives on Patreon.
Community Guidelines & Terms of Use
We’ve worked to ensure our Community Guidelines and Terms of Use are as accessible as possible. A few key points that are especially important for young creators are listed below:
- We have zero tolerance for child exploitation. If you’re getting unwanted attention on Patreon, please report it to our Trust & Safety team at guidelines@patreon.com.
- We ensure that content meant for adult audiences is reserved for adults. We ask creators who are funding or sharing adult content to flag themselves as 18+, and we don’t allow anyone under the age of 18 to access that content.
We also encourage you to read Patreon’s Benefit Guidelines, which dive into which types of physical and digital benefits creators are allowed to offer their patrons.
Blocking Tool
Unwanted interactions can be tricky, especially when it’s coming from users funding your creative work. It’s important to cut ties with users who demonstrate harmful or toxic behavior. In addition to submitting a report to our Trust & Safety team, please know you can block other users. This Help Center article shows you how.
An interaction doesn’t need to be a violation of our guidelines to merit blocking. If something or someone makes you feel uncomfortable, you can block the user. The tool is meant to help you feel secure on our platform, so use it whenever you feel the need.
How to Report Offensive Content
In addition to emailing our Trust & Safety team when you personally experience harassment on our site, you can also flag harmful content you may encounter. To notify us of offensive content, please submit a report. This Help Center article explains how. If harassment escalates, we also work closely with The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to report harmful and illegal behavior toward users under 18.
Advice for Parents & Guardians
- Advise kids not to share their phone number, home address, or school details to strangers.
- Adjust privacy settings and use parental controls. By adjusting your computer’s privacy settings, you will help protect your children from inappropriate content. Using a DNS (Domain Name System) service would also be a good option to categorize and configure devices to filter offensive content.
- Keep screens and devices where you can see them. Monitoring your child’s online behavior can be hard when they’re locked inside their room. Try to keep the computer and other devices in common areas where you can see what is being consumed. For added security, there are also a number of apps where you can monitor all the activity for devices on your cell phone plan.
- Check your credit card and phone bills for unfamiliar account charges. You can also give your children prepaid cards attached to your main account so you can track any purchases. Be present with them when purchasing online so that you are aware of what you will be charged.
Reliable Resources
Here are some useful links to learn more about how to keep your children safe:
– https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus/keeping-children-safe-online
– https://www.missingkids.org/HOME
Additionally, the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigations has encouraged parents and guardians to be vigilant with their children’s’ increased online activities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moving forward
Keeping our community safe will also be a top priority for us. Our teams are always committed to updating and creating new features and tools that will help make all Patreon users thrive. If you have any questions or concerns, our Trust & Safety team can be reached at any time via email at guidelines@patreon.com.
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