# Incident I00112: Patreon allows disinformation and conspiracies to be monetised in Spain
* **Summary:** Despite the recent measures taken by Patreon to combat QAnon-related disinformation, EU DisinfoLab has found that content linked to these theories continues to circulate and be monetised on the crowdfunding platform in Spain.
Recent measures taken by Patreon are exclusively targeting QAnon creators, but do not cover disinformation in a broader sense. We observed that other conspiratorial content on COVID-19 denialism or 5G is also being monetised.
Some users claim explicitly to use Patreon as a secondary channel to evade “censorship” by other platforms such as YouTube. Therefore, Patreon seems to become a safe haven for disinformation and extreme content that have been removed for violating the policies of other platforms.
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| Reference | Pub Date | Authors | Org | Archive |
| --------- | -------- | ------- | --- | ------- |
| [https://www.disinfo.eu/publications/patreon-allows-disinformation-and-conspiracies-to-be-monetised-in-spain/](https://www.disinfo.eu/publications/patreon-allows-disinformation-and-conspiracies-to-be-monetised-in-spain/) | 2020/12/18 | - | EU Disinfo Lab | [https://web.archive.org/web/20201218092320/https://www.disinfo.eu/publications/patreon-allows-disinformation-and-conspiracies-to-be-monetised-in-spain/](https://web.archive.org/web/20201218092320/https://www.disinfo.eu/publications/patreon-allows-disinformation-and-conspiracies-to-be-monetised-in-spain/) |
| Technique | Description given for this incident |
| --------- | ------------------------- |
| [T0121.001 Bypass Content Blocking](../../generated_pages/techniques/T0121.001.md) | IT00000452 In this report EU DisinfoLab identified 17 Spanish accounts that monetise and/or spread QAnon content or other conspiracy theories on Patreon. Content produced by these accounts go against Patreon’s stated policy of removing creators that “advance disinformation promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory”. EU DisinfoLab found:
In most cases, the creators monetise the content directly on Patreon (posts are only accessible for people sponsoring the creators) but there are also cases of indirect monetization (monetization through links leading to other platforms), an aspect that was flagged and analysed by Eu DisinfoLab in the mentioned previous report.
Some creators display links that redirects users to other platforms such as YouTube or LBRY where they can monetise their content. Some even offer almost all of their videos for free by redirecting to their YouTube channel.
Another modus operandi is for the creators to advertise on Patreon that they are looking for financing through PayPal or provide the author’s email to explore other financing alternatives.
[...]
Sometimes the content offered for a fee on Patreon is freely accessible on other platforms. Creators openly explain that they seek voluntary donation on Patreon, but that their creations will be public on YouTube. This means that the model of these platforms does not always involve a direct monetisation of the content. Creators who have built a strong reputation previously on other platforms can use Patreon as a platform to get some sponsorship which is not related to the content and give them more freedom to create.
Some users explicitly claim to use Patreon as a secondary channel to evade “censorship” by other platforms such as YouTube. Patreon seems to be perceived as a safe haven for disinformation and fringe content that has been suppressed for violating the policies of other platforms. For example, Jorge Guerra points out how Patreon acts as a back-up channel to go to in case of censorship by YouTube. Meanwhile, Alfa Mind openly claims to use Patreon to publish content that is not allowed on YouTube. “Exclusive access to videos that are prohibited on YouTube. These videos are only accessible on Patreon, as their content is very explicit and shocking”, are offered to the patrons who pay €3 per month.
In spite of Patreon’s stated policy, actors use accounts on their platform to generate revenue or donations for their content, and to provide a space to host content which was removed from other platforms (T0146: Account Asset, T0152.012: Subscription Service Platform, T0121.001: Bypass Content Bocking).
Some actors were observed accepting donations via PayPal (T0146: Account Asset, T0148.003: Payment Processing Platform). |
| [T0148.003 Payment Processing Platform](../../generated_pages/techniques/T0148.003.md) | IT00000451 In this report EU DisinfoLab identified 17 Spanish accounts that monetise and/or spread QAnon content or other conspiracy theories on Patreon. Content produced by these accounts go against Patreon’s stated policy of removing creators that “advance disinformation promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory”. EU DisinfoLab found:
In most cases, the creators monetise the content directly on Patreon (posts are only accessible for people sponsoring the creators) but there are also cases of indirect monetization (monetization through links leading to other platforms), an aspect that was flagged and analysed by Eu DisinfoLab in the mentioned previous report.
Some creators display links that redirects users to other platforms such as YouTube or LBRY where they can monetise their content. Some even offer almost all of their videos for free by redirecting to their YouTube channel.
Another modus operandi is for the creators to advertise on Patreon that they are looking for financing through PayPal or provide the author’s email to explore other financing alternatives.
[...]
Sometimes the content offered for a fee on Patreon is freely accessible on other platforms. Creators openly explain that they seek voluntary donation on Patreon, but that their creations will be public on YouTube. This means that the model of these platforms does not always involve a direct monetisation of the content. Creators who have built a strong reputation previously on other platforms can use Patreon as a platform to get some sponsorship which is not related to the content and give them more freedom to create.
Some users explicitly claim to use Patreon as a secondary channel to evade “censorship” by other platforms such as YouTube. Patreon seems to be perceived as a safe haven for disinformation and fringe content that has been suppressed for violating the policies of other platforms. For example, Jorge Guerra points out how Patreon acts as a back-up channel to go to in case of censorship by YouTube. Meanwhile, Alfa Mind openly claims to use Patreon to publish content that is not allowed on YouTube. “Exclusive access to videos that are prohibited on YouTube. These videos are only accessible on Patreon, as their content is very explicit and shocking”, are offered to the patrons who pay €3 per month.
In spite of Patreon’s stated policy, actors use accounts on their platform to generate revenue or donations for their content, and to provide a space to host content which was removed from other platforms (T0146: Account Asset, T0152.012: Subscription Service Platform, T0121.001: Bypass Content Bocking).
Some actors were observed accepting donations via PayPal (T0146: Account Asset, T0148.003: Payment Processing Platform). |
| [T0152.012 Subscription Service Platform](../../generated_pages/techniques/T0152.012.md) | IT00000453 In this report EU DisinfoLab identified 17 Spanish accounts that monetise and/or spread QAnon content or other conspiracy theories on Patreon. Content produced by these accounts go against Patreon’s stated policy of removing creators that “advance disinformation promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory”. EU DisinfoLab found:
In most cases, the creators monetise the content directly on Patreon (posts are only accessible for people sponsoring the creators) but there are also cases of indirect monetization (monetization through links leading to other platforms), an aspect that was flagged and analysed by Eu DisinfoLab in the mentioned previous report.
Some creators display links that redirects users to other platforms such as YouTube or LBRY where they can monetise their content. Some even offer almost all of their videos for free by redirecting to their YouTube channel.
Another modus operandi is for the creators to advertise on Patreon that they are looking for financing through PayPal or provide the author’s email to explore other financing alternatives.
[...]
Sometimes the content offered for a fee on Patreon is freely accessible on other platforms. Creators openly explain that they seek voluntary donation on Patreon, but that their creations will be public on YouTube. This means that the model of these platforms does not always involve a direct monetisation of the content. Creators who have built a strong reputation previously on other platforms can use Patreon as a platform to get some sponsorship which is not related to the content and give them more freedom to create.
Some users explicitly claim to use Patreon as a secondary channel to evade “censorship” by other platforms such as YouTube. Patreon seems to be perceived as a safe haven for disinformation and fringe content that has been suppressed for violating the policies of other platforms. For example, Jorge Guerra points out how Patreon acts as a back-up channel to go to in case of censorship by YouTube. Meanwhile, Alfa Mind openly claims to use Patreon to publish content that is not allowed on YouTube. “Exclusive access to videos that are prohibited on YouTube. These videos are only accessible on Patreon, as their content is very explicit and shocking”, are offered to the patrons who pay €3 per month.
In spite of Patreon’s stated policy, actors use accounts on their platform to generate revenue or donations for their content, and to provide a space to host content which was removed from other platforms (T0146: Account Asset, T0152.012: Subscription Service Platform, T0121.001: Bypass Content Bocking).
Some actors were observed accepting donations via PayPal (T0146: Account Asset, T0148.003: Payment Processing Platform). |
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