404 Media⁠48%

Patreon Blocks Crawlers From Stealing Creators' Work for AI Training ⁠18%

By Samantha Cole⁠61%

7/9/2026, 9:54:58 PM

Keywords: Patreon

BS Summary: This article contains 19 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Hasty Generalization, and Optimism Bias, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 24.6% saturation with 156 hits. Analysis detected 786 faulty-reasoning hits from 634 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 33.2% and a BS Rank of ⁠18% (18,044 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 82.40% of the article peer group.

“Creators deserve credit, compensation, and consent. 
If that's not on the table, the crawlers can stay the fuck off Patreon," CEO Jack Conte wrote on Thursday. 
Photo by appshunter.io / Unsplash 
Patreon announced on Thursday that it’s partnering with Cloudflare to block crawlers from stealing creators’ work to train AI models. 
“I HAVE A KICKASS PRODUCT UPDATE FOR YOU ALL!” 
Jack Conte, the founder and CEO of Patreon, wrote in a post on Instagram with the superimposed text, “POV: you're CEO of one of these fucking tech companies, so you do what you want.” 
“Patreon has partnered with an internet infrastructure company called Cloudflare to block Al training crawlers from using the work you publish on your Patreon to train their Al models,” Conte wrote. 
“This is live and happening at the network level on all posts published on Patreon.” 
"As AI agents become increasingly powerful and popular, creators deserve a meaningful say in how their work is used by AI companies. 
On most of the Internet, creators have to accept AI training on their work just to reach and grow an audience," Drew Rowny, SVP of Product at Patreon, said in a press release published by Cloudflare last week . 
"Patreon has a different vision: creators should be able to grow their audience and control how their work is used. 
That's why we're building on our existing work with Cloudflare to block known AI training crawlers at the network level across Patreon, while still allowing the crawlers that help creators get discovered and grow their businesses through search." 
Last year, internet infrastructure company Cloudflare, which provides cybersecurity protection and content delivery services to websites, announced that it would start blocking AI crawlers from accessing content without website owners’ permission or compensation by default. 
And earlier this month, Cloudflare announced new options for website owners to control AI traffic based on whether bots are search, agent, or training crawlers. 
In September, according to the company’s blog , all new domains onboarding to Cloudflare will have training and agent bots blocked by default on pages that display ads, while search crawlers will remain allowed by default. 
“Creators deserve credit, compensation, and consent. 
If that's not on the table, the crawlers can stay the fuck off Patreon. 
The free internet is alive and happening. 
The rebellion has already started,” Conte wrote in his post. 
In May, Conte posted a 43-minute video addressing how the AI industry fails to compensate creators. 
“Creators deserve consent, credit and compensation,” Conte said in the video. 
“Consent meaning, ‘Do I get to opt out of my work being used by these models as training data?’ 
Credit meaning, ‘If my work is used and you just replicate my whole vibe as an artist… do I get credit for that?’ 
And then compensation, meaning, ‘Do I get paid when that happens?’ 
Unfortunately, the answer to all three of these questions right now is a big fat ‘No.’” 
AI-generated works are permitted on Patreon, as long as they comply with the platform's terms of use. 
In 2024, 404 Media reported that many creators of nonconsensual sexual images and videos monetized their content on Patreon. 
Last year , Patreon updated its content guidelines for AI content to state: “AI-generated depictions of people that are illustrated/animated are permitted; AI-generated hyperrealistic depictions of people are permitted only if the people are real and have documented their explicit consent.” 
Cloudflare did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
Updated 7/9 at 7:59 p.m. 
EDT to include Drew Rowny's statement. 
Sam Cole is writing from the far reaches of the internet, about sexuality, the adult industry, online culture, and AI. 
She's the author of How Sex Changed the Internet and the Internet Changed Sex. 
More from Samantha Cole 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 3.0%404 Media: 3.5%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.6%404 Media: 0.9%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 9.1%Samantha Cole: 4.4%404 Media: 3.8%Availability Heuristic9.1%This article: 3.2%Samantha Cole: 1.5%404 Media: 1.6%Representativeness Heuristic3.2%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.7%404 Media: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.2%404 Media: 2.8%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 7.9%Samantha Cole: 4.6%404 Media: 5.6%Framing Effect7.9%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.3%404 Media: 0.4%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 8.7%Samantha Cole: 1.4%404 Media: 0.6%Status Quo Bias8.7%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.5%404 Media: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 9.5%Samantha Cole: 5.3%404 Media: 2.8%Optimism Bias9.5%This article: 3.5%Samantha Cole: 2.5%404 Media: 1.6%Pessimism Bias3.5%This article: 12.5%Samantha Cole: 16.1%404 Media: 11.5%Negativity Bias12.5%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.0%404 Media: 0.9%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.1%404 Media: 0.7%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 5.4%Samantha Cole: 0.2%404 Media: 0.1%Actor-Observer Bias5.4%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 3.1%404 Media: 0.8%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.0%404 Media: 0.3%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.1%404 Media: 1.0%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.9%404 Media: 0.2%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.0%404 Media: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 1.6%Samantha Cole: 1.7%404 Media: 1.0%Recency Bias1.6%This article: 3.5%Samantha Cole: 0.7%404 Media: 0.3%Primacy Effect3.5%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.1%404 Media: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.6%404 Media: 0.3%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.4%404 Media: 0.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 2.2%Samantha Cole: 3.5%404 Media: 3.3%Appeal to Authority2.2%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.5%404 Media: 1.3%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 2.0%404 Media: 1.2%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.2%404 Media: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 11.2%Samantha Cole: 11.4%404 Media: 7.8%Hasty Generalization11.2%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.0%404 Media: 0.3%Red Herring0.0%This article: 1.6%Samantha Cole: 0.6%404 Media: 0.7%Bandwagon1.6%This article: 24.6%Samantha Cole: 10.3%404 Media: 4.8%Appeal to Emotion24.6%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.7%404 Media: 0.7%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.8%404 Media: 2.0%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.7%404 Media: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.2%404 Media: 0.5%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.5%404 Media: 0.4%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.3%404 Media: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 3.0%Samantha Cole: 3.8%404 Media: 2.9%Anecdotal3.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.3%404 Media: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 2.5%404 Media: 2.1%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.0%404 Media: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 6.0%Samantha Cole: 0.2%404 Media: 0.1%Middle Ground6.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.2%404 Media: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.1%404 Media: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.2%404 Media: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 2.1%404 Media: 2.6%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 3.2%Samantha Cole: 2.1%404 Media: 1.6%Quote-first Misdirection3.2%This article: 0.9%Samantha Cole: 14.8%404 Media: 11.5%Biased Writer Voice0.9%This article: 6.6%Samantha Cole: 3.3%404 Media: 1.5%Indoctrination6.6%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.6%404 Media: 0.6%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.1%404 Media: 0.0%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.2%404 Media: 2.9%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

634 words analyzed.

Speakers

5speakers76%attributed speech155writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 10 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 6 words • 100.0% coverageJack Conte • 20 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 5 words • 0.0% coveragePatreon • 20 words • 0.0% coverageJack Conte • 9 words • 0.0% coverageJack Conte • 34 words • 0.0% coverageJack Conte • 31 words • 0.0% coverageJack Conte • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 100.0% coverageDrew Rowny • 39 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 100.0% coverageDrew Rowny • 38 words • 0.0% coverageCloudflare • 35 words • 0.0% coverageCloudflare • 25 words • 0.0% coverageCloudflare • 36 words • 0.0% coverageJack Conte • 6 words • 0.0% coverageJack Conte • 14 words • 0.0% coverageJack Conte • 7 words • 0.0% coverageJack Conte • 10 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageJack Conte • 11 words • 0.0% coverageJack Conte • 19 words • 0.0% coverageJack Conte • 23 words • 0.0% coverageJack Conte • 11 words • 0.0% coverageJack Conte • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 0.0% coverage404 Media • 19 words • 0.0% coveragePatreon • 41 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 5 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 6 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 4 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

404 Media

100%flagged-word coverage
19 attributed words4.0% of attributed speech87% writer coverage
0%15.0%30.0%Indoctrination-27.1 ptsWriter: 27.1%404 Media: 0.0%0.0%Biased Writer Voice-3.9 ptsWriter: 3.9%404 Media: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.