Patreon Denies Hosting Child Sexual Abuse Material Amid Security Team Cuts
Patreon is denying accusations that the site has been helping parents monetize sexualized images of their children.
Patreon refuted the allegations amid more job cuts. Last week, the platform laid off five members of its security team. On Tuesday, Patreon then announced(Opens in a new window) it was slashing another 80 jobs, reducing its headcount by 17%, citing the economic downturn.
The staff cuts to the security team prompted one critic on TikTok named Michael McWhorter—who has 4.9 million followers—to accuse(Opens in a new window) Patreon of turning a blind eye to the child sexual abuse imagery that can appear on the platform.
McWhorter cited a Glassdoor review(Opens in a new window) from an alleged former Patreon employee, which claims Patreon told staff to avoid taking down content featuring minors that was flagged as sexual.
“We are being told specifically by management and executives NOT to take down content that is illegal or was reported as sexual in nature involving minors unless the police make contact with legal or we have an order by a court,” the reviewer claims.
However, Patreon says the allegations are false. “The disinformation stemmed from a single fraudulent claim on a job posting site, which onlookers inaccurately linked to small-scale staffing changes we made last week to our security organization. This has led to a conspiracy that Patreon knowingly hosts illegal and child-exploitative material,” it wrote in a blog post(Opens in a new window).
Patreon says it has “zero tolerance for the sexualization of children or teenagers.” The company adds: “We unequivocally forbid creators from funding content dedicated to non-consensual or illegal sexual themes and regularly review creators’ accounts to
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