Patreon stops asking AI bots not to scrape — and starts blocking them
TL;DR
Patreon is strengthening its defenses against AI scraping by working with Cloudflare to block bots that train AI models on creators’ content without permission. The move marks a shift away from relying on websites using robots. txt alone to actively block unauthorized AI training.
Nauti's Take
For small teams with paid content, this is a sign to stop treating robots. txt or terms of service as real protection.
Verify first whether your hosting and CDN stack can block AI crawlers reliably, what visibility you get in logs, and whether legitimate search or partner traffic could get caught in the same filter.
Summary
Patreon is strengthening its defenses against AI scraping by working with Cloudflare to block bots that train AI models on creators’ content without permission. The move marks a shift away from relying on websites using robots.
txt alone to actively block unauthorized AI training.
Sources