Certain platforms are overrepresented in my coverage on the murky, frustrating world of online adult content censorship. No better example exists than Patreon, the world’s most popular paysite for writers, artists, game developers, voice actors, and video essayists. SimilarWeb ranks it as the 301st most popular website on the internet, the 165th most visited in the United States. The U.S. is the biggest source of Patreon’s traffic. And when it comes to sex, Patreon is as American as it comes. Love, hate, and everything in between.

Patreon has a very long history of censoring adult content. In the late 2010s, Patreon began cracking down on sex workers using the website, citing "requirements from our payment partners." Then, hypnosis artwork began facing scrutiny from Patreon in 2019, as I reported for The Daily Dot. At the time, the site considered hypnosis “a glorification of sexual violence” when hypnosis was used "as a coercion mechanic for nonconsensual" sexual activity in fictional art. Patreon then made moves against anime and furry adult artists in 2020, with one NSFW creator having their off-site portfolio monitored by Patreon. By 2023, Patreon went after adult baby diaper lovers in the furry community, per 404 Media. The site later updated its content guidelines in 2024 to provide more specific clarification on material deemed to violate Patreon’s policies (including, briefly, a ban on feederism fetish material). The move coincided with Gumroad’s NSFW ban amid payment processors targeting sites such as Pixiv and DLSite.

Patreon is a battleground for online censorship. Despite the site’s deplatforming of sex workers, of various hypnosis creators, and even of diaperfurs, there’s still an enormous amount of adult content creators operating on Patreon. As of Patreon’s current Community Guidelines, users may create "sexually gratifying" works as long as they abide by Patreon’s various rules. For example, creators must avoid depictions of "sexual activity or role play interactions between family members who are blood relatives." Yet there are gray areas within Patreon’s policies. For example, Patreon bans "producing or distributing any types of works" in which creators "implicitly or explicitly portray themselves or other adults as minors in a sexualized context,” although certain lolicon lewdtubers (or adult VTubers depicting childlike characters in NSFW material) have a sizable presence on Patreon.¹

The gray areas within Patreon’s current landscape are incredibly important, as the site remains in the middle of a far bigger online battle for pornography’s place on the internet. And it seems like Patreon is dancing just as tightly as the rest of us around these issues, making the platform judge, jury, and executioner to adult content creators — while still remaining victim to payment processor whims.

In an age where payment processors and anti-porn radfem groups like Collective Shout feel emboldened in their crusade against adult content, Patreon is still one of the biggest lifelines for NSFW artists, voice actors, writers, and game developers on the internet. When developer Dammitbird originally lost access to monetizing his adult game Heavy Hearts on itch.io in July, and then was denied Steam Early Access for his title in late August, he was still able to collect revenue from Patreon (along with far more lenient competitor SubscribeStar).

I’ve taken a keen interest in Patreon’s stance on adult content, as I feel the platform (and more importantly, its creators) may face some major uphill battles in the months ahead. Particularly after the implementation of Sept. 1st’s Texas Senate Bill 20, which targets cartoons and animations with “obscene visual material containing a depiction that appears to be of a child younger than 18 years of age.” JAST was supposedly banned from Texas’ San Japan over the law, even though this year’s convention concluded prior to Sept. 1st. In theory, Texas’ new law threatens lolicon lewdtubers, but it could also theoretically impact content on Patreon depicting adult anime women with petite bodies — a throwback to the aforementioned hentai bans of 2020, where Patreon cautioned eroge artists against stylistic decisions that "make your characters look innocent and sweet."

In July, and then in late August through early September, I was in touch with Patreon about the site’s relationship with ASMR content and SB 20, respectively. But while I was wrapping up my correspondence with Patreon on Sept. 4th, something peculiar happened: I discovered one of my ASMR files was pulled from the site. “Succubus Mommy Domme Lets You Bounce On Her Cock At a Monster Girl Sex Club,” a futa-themed F4F audio, was removed due to Patreon's guidelines on "Sexually Gratifying Works." This obviously came as a bit of a faux pas on Patreon’s part, one that inspired me to dig a bit deeper into censorship on Patreon — and where Patreon currently stands on adult content.

What follows is a full breakdown of my correspondence with Patreon, pertaining to material that can be publicly reported. It also includes some thoughts and concerns about the climate of constant anxiety created under platform censorship.

According to Patreon’s “Sexually Gratifying Works” section in its Community Guidelines, Patreon allows for "works which are sexually gratifying or contain nudity" as long as they are labeled as 18+ content and "abide by all other guidelines.” According to my correspondence with Patreon, adult ASMR and audio roleplay content is officially allowed on the site under this Adult/18+ criteria.

The “Consent” subsection is fundamental to all sexual content posted on Patreon. As written in the site’s Community Guidelines,

One should keep in mind the “Sexual Violence” criteria as well, defined as,

The “Consent” and “Sexual Violence” sections obviously limit what Patreon users can post and share. Yeougui-style artwork — where consent may appear dubious or absent, even though characters state “I Consent!" — clearly does not fly on Patreon anymore (Yeougui herself left the site in 2022). That said, many Patreon creators publish fetish art with characters who express unwilling engagement, all without receiving moderation from Patreon. Vore content creators (depicting a fetish for consuming others) commonly publish content depicting “unwilling prey,” for example. These works feature characters who do not want to be eaten, yet are subsequently devoured. While certain vore creators have faced moderation in the past, unwilling vore is by and large still allowed on Patreon.

In July, I reached out to Patreon for some insight into the site’s relationship with ASMR content. What kind of audio content is — and isn’t — allowed on the site, really? Patreon proceeded to respond with an assortment of guidelines and clarifications on background, paraphrasable. Here’s what I learned:

If these policies feel very “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” then trust me — you’ll want to read on.

So, how about the lolis? Note Patreon’s policy, “Sexualized Minor Age Play.” This reads,

In short, Patreon takes a very hardline stance against ageplay that seemingly depicts children, as well as characters in sexual settings that appear to be children. Per the site:

Outside of my correspondence with Patreon? The back-end administrative domain for Patreon accessed a VICE story by this reporter discussing lolicons in VTubing, according to information obtained via VICE’s traffic analysis software Prase.ly. In other words, Patreon is absolutely aware of the existence of loli ASMR content on the platform.

In late August, I reached out to Patreon again for any information on the site’s approach to SB 20. Information was given on background this week. Here’s what I learned:

The “Sexualized Minor Age Play” criteria of Patreon’s Community Guidelines seemingly covers the exact kind of material SB 20 targets, at least in Patreon’s eyes. Patreon did not express any concerns or fears that it would have to censor anime content on the site to comply with SB 20.

When discussing online censorship on my VTuber streams, I commonly mention this idea of “Schrödinger's catgirl.” At any given time, you may or may not see porn on your Twitter timeline — such as an anime catgirl with her breasts exposed. You don’t know for sure until you scroll. Nor does the tech stack hosting the lewd image of an anime catgirl know until you scroll. Therefore, in order to prevent any legal or financial risks associated with the potential appearance of a topless anime catgirl, the entire tech stack behind a social media website must accommodate ever-changing policies from governments and financial institutions.

In short: All social media platforms must constantly consider the potential risks of material emerging on the site that offends governments and payment processors. How does it appear, how is it moderated (if at all?), and what legal risks could a platform face if a minor accidentally sees this content? From Texas to Mississippi, state ID laws insist that offending platforms — those that expose minors to content deemed harmful — are on the hook for significant legal risks. So Schrödinger's catgirl forces social media companies to either spend massive amounts of money on age verification, or close up shop in a specific jurisdiction.

Payment processors similarly operate off the idea that, at any given time, a platform they do business with could have a public relations blow up over adult content that negatively impacts their brand. PayPal, Stripe, MasterCard, Visa, and other financial institutions therefore insist on heavy and thorough content review from paysites, storefronts, and any website where monetization occurs. The last thing MasterCard wants is the sanctioned purchase and sale of, say, Schrödinger's catgirl in a siscon threeway with Schrödinger's puppygirl and Schrödinger's horsegirl. More importantly, MasterCard doesn’t want Collective Shout knocking on its door, threatening to tank its brand over incest material, “bestiality,” and, for good measure, throw on “child abuse” (“those anime girls look like children!!”).

Patreon has its own implementation of Schrödinger's catgirl. The site takes a "less is more" approach to banning lolicon artwork, clearly; this certainly keeps the platform from legal risk under laws like SB 20, or from financial scrutiny from their payment partners. This is also why Patreon tends to be so censorious around noncon content, up to and including adult artwork that may be deemed too violent or too coercive in its fictional sexual depictions, even if the material comes off as quite tame to viewers (such as consent brought on by hypnosis). No doubt, this sort of compliance allows Patreon to function without facing backlash from payment processors. Prevent the catgirl from hitting the timeline, prevent the payment processor from whacking you over the head.

However, there’s an interesting knot in Patreon’s handle on Schrödinger's catgirl. While the site does seem to take a hard stance on hypnosis, violence, coercion, and lolicon visual content, Patreon seemingly tries to avoid the public perception of over-moderating. As I mentioned before, Patreon is aware of the existence of loli lewdtubers on its platform. It’s also aware of vore material that skirts the line into “unwilling” territory, like certain kinds of giantess vore content. Many creators in both genres are getting by on Patreon, seemingly under the radar. But Patreon seemingly knows a little more than it lets on. What’s going on?

In my personal opinion, Patreon understands that if the site appears too censorious, it may limit long-term growth and user retention. To prevent a public relations backlash, Patreon will pick when and why to moderate a content genre carefully. For example, many hypnosis audio creators still have successful followings on the site, even though hypnosis bans increased significantly on Patreon circa 2019.² Why are hypnosis ASMRists still operating on the site? Patreon largely seems concerned with hypnosis in a nonconsent or coerced context. Compare that with Fansly, which, due to payment processor censorship, now outright bans hypnosis and its various synonyms regardless of context (“mesmerize, mindfuck, mindcontrol, hypno”). No doubt, there’s always the fear that Patreon will target and moderate hypnosis content for simply being hypnosis material. But compared to Fansly, Patreon is more lax on hypno. The site largely targets hypnosis creators that fly too close to the sun on the “Sexual Violence” and “Consent” policies, which both outline hypnosis as problematic only when it interferes with depictions of consent in art.

When it comes to lolis, we see a very similar pattern going on.

Loli lewdtubers are in vogue right now in VTubing, regardless of potential long-term legal consequences from SB 20. The loli lewdtuber is resilient in that regard. And VTubers that could be considered lolicon, or loli-coded, many of them have been active on Patreon without issue. FallenShadow operated on Patreon for years, only to close up shop in 2023 — not because of censorship, but because Shondo could not keep up with the content demands that she believed she owed her 100+ Patreon audience. Loli ASMRists avoid censorship on Patreon by exercising extreme caution. They avoid using the word “loli” on Patreon, and they’re careful about doing material that veers too heavily into ageplay territory. Otherwise, Patreon will ban a creator from time to time, likely if the platform feels the creator clearly is undeniably engaging in lolicon material. JAST’s Kumo Kuddelmuddel, one of the most popular lolicon VTubers in ENVTubing, lost her Patreon in 2024. Kumo stated that her lolicon model was to blame, even though her loli model only appeared off-site.

Again, Patreon is aware of the existence of lolicon ASMR content, but it appears to avoid slamming the banhammer down on this material unless a lolicon creator undeniably crosses a line for them. Or if Patreon otherwise believes it should act against off-site material that reflects a creator’s brand on the site. Granted, that’s not to blame Kumo for her banning, as it seems obvious the ASMRist tried her best to comply with Patreon guidelines, up to and including reportedly keeping her loli VTuber model off her page on the site.

As Patreon noted during our correspondence, context is a key factor in how the site decides to make decisions around characters that are allegedly minors or minor-like. I believe Patreon understands that policing a performer’s voice too heavily has serious consequences for the moderation of any sexual content on the site. Overanalyzing an adult woman’s voice may also be seen as overtly misogynistic. Case in point, when Twitch banned lolisho content pertaining to VRChat and VTubing, one VTuber pointed out that her real-life body would potentially be banned, even though she is an adult. Some women simply have soft, higher-pitched voices, and some 20-something women are short and petite in a way where they may be mistaken for being minors. Patreon may be navigating the loli waters carefully, given the site’s overzealous approach to limiting hentai creators in 2020 was so disastrous the site was forced to respond to the controversy directly on Twitter.

In other words, loli audio performers may have a bit more wiggle room than loli visual artists, as long as they aren’t trying to push boundaries by appearing too young or engaging in overt ageplay. Patreon seems to be cautious about deeming adult audio work to be “Sexualized Minor Age Play” material without good reason, as this would obviously create an online shitshow for Patreon.

TL;DR,

Like Mr. Burns at risk of one slight breeze, Patreon’s current equilibrium around lolicon ASMR strikes me as very volatile. It could quickly fall apart with pressure from one specific activist group, such as the aforementioned radfem organization that has already shown a keen interest in censoring anime. Similarly, any loli lewdtuber creating ASMR content on Patreon could have their account pulled for off-site material, as was the case for Kumo.

However, left to its own devices, Patreon seems to be navigating censorship and moderation around this material very carefully, as the site likely understands that over-moderation will cause a public relations nightmare — both from fans of the material, as well as onlookers wondering why loli ASMR was allowed on Patreon in the first place.³

There’s something really funny about facing my first bout of Patreon censorship via an audio named “Succubus Mommy Domme Lets You Bounce On Her Cock At a Monster Girl Sex Club.” Sporting tags like “[Dominant But Gentle Femdom]” and descriptors like “Consensual,” it’s some sort of great irony that my most consent-oriented audio would get pulled from Patreon.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with my voice acting and ASMR work, I primarily create [F4F], [TF4F], and [F4A] content with Domination/submission themes. A fair amount of my audio content is dubcon or noncon in nature. For my giantess content, that usually means “unwilling vore” ASMR material — vore where a character (usually the listener) is consumed against their wishes in order to fulfill a giantess’ desire. Meanwhile, for my standard NSFW content, my dubcon and noncon audios usually involve femdom characters that take what they want from listeners’ self-insert character. Most of my material is relatively tame for dubcon and noncon. A good example is “Hi! I Promise I’m Not a Yandere Girl With a Breeding Kink,” in which the yandere speaker appears possessive and assertive but not necessarily forceful. Studio FOW, I am not. That said, there are a limited number of ASMR performances I keep off Patreon because they veer into more forceful noncon territory, and I wish to avoid punitive moderation from the platform.

On Patreon, dubcon exists similarly to lolicon: A certain level of material with non- or dubious consent is de facto permitted (unwilling vore, possessive and assertive yandere breeding) as long as Patreon doesn’t consider your content to go too far. But once the Patreon Panopticon believes you have crossed a line, all bets are off.

So imagine my surprise when an audio based on consent, aftercare, an immersive femdom experience, and mid-session check-ins became my first Patreon ban. No less while in the middle of corresponding with Patreon. Going back to the lolicon example, this is the equivalent of Kumo getting an audio pulled from Patreon for playing a clearly adult character with big breasts bouncing boobily amid an hourglass figure.

“Succubus Mommy Domme” was pulled on Sept. 1st, and I discovered its removal on Sept. 4th, after which I promptly contacted Patreon via my press channel to note the moderation action against the file. No official statement was given, although Patreon flagged the audio's removal as an issue for its Trust & Safety. That night, “Succubus Mommy Domme” was silently reinstated.

As of this article’s publication, I am still waiting for clarification from Patreon as to why “Succubus Mommy Domme” was removed. For now, all I know is that the audio post was deemed to include "content that doesn't meet [Patreon's] Community Guidelines" for "Sexually Gratifying Works." It is fair to state that I was only able to have this work restored due to my press connections. I will update this article if I receive any correspondence from Trust & Safety about the audio’s removal.

Numerous colleagues have chatted with me about “Succubus Mommy Domme” and where its offending content lies. The Mommy Domme reference, including one-off terms like “little girl” and “baby girl,” may have been to blame. However, the audio directly establishes the listener-insert’s age by describing her as a college graduate. Others have suggested the tag “[Choking]” set off Patreon’s moderation system. This would make sense, as Patreon seems to take issue with any adult content deemed too violent in nature— and choking has a certain taboo element, regardless of how kind and validating a Mommy Domme character may be before, during, and after choking her baby girl.

The great irony of “Succubus Mommy Domme,” however, is that it’s an audio that’s based on a real-life experience of mine. I wanted to capture what’s it like going to a sex party and meeting a strange, mysterious female Dominant that opens new doors for you. Is an audio based on my real life too offensive for Patreon? Is my existence deemed not safe for work? I created this audio for my friend CuppyCakiee, my lewdtuber protégé, and did it as a love letter to their recent queer experience at a sex club. It is a deeply meaningful and important work to me, to both of us, and one grounded in a realistic consensual experience. So, again, it’s rather odd to me that an audio intended to be gentle, affirming, validating, and filled with check-ins, all in the name of realism and lesbian expression, ends up getting the boot compared to content that’s far harsher.

And by that, I mean my very own content. What made “Succubus Mommy Domme” more offensive than an audio-visual tale about a dragon giantess consuming a king’s subjects in her lava-like belly? What made it more alarming than the giantess vore story about a villainess that gets “revenge” on her silly catgirl maid? A visual ASMR about being forced to worship a giantess oni's feet? A yandere audio where a shy girl reveals herself to be a very horny, thirsty, and slightly boundary-clueless girl with a breeding kink? Or how about all those forcefem audios I did? What about that Steam Delivery Girl saga, where an overworked Steam mascot gets revenge on a pirate that just can’t seem to pay for their games?

Above, I mentioned Patreon as a platform with gray areas. You’re allowed to publish and create on the platform as long as you don’t fly too close to the sun. While this may seem like a decent arrangement, there are two areas of ambiguity on Patreon that cause immense stress. First, it’s unclear why specific content is suddenly pulled, making it difficult for creators to plan around (or outright avoid making) content subject to potential moderation. And secondly, it’s unclear why specific content is not pulled, creating an environment of immense confusion, uncertainty, and contradictory information when, say, another Mommy Domme succubus ASMR sex party audio with choking material stays on the site.

While it does seem to be the case that Patreon allows a certain amount of content that technically fits its criteria to go unmoderated, it also seems to be the case that Patreon does not clearly communicate why or how certain blind spots occur. Entering into the blind spot is innately risky, in part because no one knows why Patreon allows them to exist, and whether Patreon plans to moderate each of them out of existence in the end. Think of Patreon like a panopticon with a dim light bulb. You never know what the jailer will see in your cell, which makes the ambiguity extremely stressful.

In the case of loli lewdtubers, limited and narrow moderation can be a blessing, but it’s also a curse. Put your feelings past on lolicon content for a minute, and consider how Patreon was Kumo’s “main income,” how the VTuber “paid most of my bills, my food, my rent” with her page. When Kumo lost her Patreon, she said the platform's termination of her account "almost got me on the street." Kumo and her colleagues are running a business, yet no one in the equation — from Patreon to PayPal — seems to care about the human cost of this dim panopticon.

The truth is, even if it technically breaks the letter of the law, certain kinds of content may be allowed on Patreon if the material does not cross the line for moderation. But no one really knows where that line is. You never know what is going to get you thrown into Patreon jail. Many creators self-censor, avoid performing certain kinds of content, or always have backup plans ready to go should they be pulled from Patreon. The line in the sand is shifting with the tide.

I wonder what all this is doing to our brains. Schrödinger's catgirl is a feared presence among businesses. Even though that catgirl, for many, was the reason why we became adult content creators to begin with. And why we still create content today. If only we were simply allowed to enjoy her when she appears on our feeds, or kindly ask her to leave if we’d prefer not to see her. Instead, she has become a core anxiety for every single tech company, financial institution, and politician.

I hope one day, it won’t matter whether she is or isn’t on your timeline. She’s welcome either way.