At Patreon, we are committed to protecting the privacy and safety of our users. We carefully review all requests for user information and disclose data only when legally required or when necessary to prevent imminent harm.
The following guidelines describe how government agencies, legal entities and other authorised parties should submit requests.
Emergency requests
Patreon may disclose limited user information on an expedited basis in response to emergency requests involving an imminent threat of death or serious physical harm. Determinations are made at Patreon’s discretion or based on the representations of a recognised law enforcement authority.
To submit an emergency request, please follow these instructions.
Service of legal process
All legal requests (e.g. subpoenas, court orders, warrants) must be formally served on Patreon’s designated agent for service of process in the applicable jurisdiction. We do not accept service via email, fax, physical mail or hand delivery to our offices.
Note: Requests must include sufficient detail to identify the user account(s) at issue – such as username, campaign name, email address, link to Patreon page or payment identifiers.
Patreon is a US-based company and requires foreign legal process to be domesticated through a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), letters of request or 28 U.S.C. § 1782 proceedings, as applicable.
Data preservation requests
We regularly purge data in accordance with our internal retention policies. If you anticipate a forthcoming request for information, we recommend submitting a preservation request as early as possible.
Preservation requests must:
- Be submitted in writing to legal@patreon.com; and
- Include sufficient detail to identify the user account(s) at issue – such as username, campaign name, email address, link to Patreon page or payment identifiers
We may, at our discretion, preserve data for up to 90 days and may extend this period upon receipt of a formal legal request.
User notification policy
Unless legally prohibited, Patreon may notify users when their data is requested by an external party. If your agency or entity seeks to delay or prevent user notification, you must include a valid and binding non-disclosure order with your request.
Cost of reimbursement
To the extent permitted by law, Patreon reserves the right to seek reimbursement for the reasonable costs associated with gathering and producing user data in response to legal process.
If reimbursement is required under applicable law, payment should accompany your request or be made promptly upon invoicing.
Questions?
For general inquiries related to requests for user information, you may contact us at legal@patreon.com. Please note this email is not a channel for service of legal process.