I guess it should come as no surprise that Patreon banned me. In June 2025, I wrote about the Shadow Regulators of AI, and how they use the financial system to restrict creative minds.
Patreon claims my account was banned because I shared AI generators and prompts allowing the creation of NSFW works. This is, of course, not true—something anyone who has been following me knows. Ever since I first got interested in generative AI a few years ago, I have been vocal about the ethical use of AI, and have spent countless hours creating systems that make it easier to generate consistent characters without the use of real people as references.
What Really Happened
I can’t know for sure, but I suspect that since Patreon allows for payment using Visa/Mastercard, they are subject to the same strict rules that got CivitAI in trouble a year ago.
I personally believe that Patreon has interpreted these rules way too strictly. I did share nodes and workflows on Patreon, as most of you know, but none of them were built explicitly for creating NSFW content.
Could some of them be used for that? Absolutely. However, if I shared techniques for analogue photography, those could be used by someone to produce NSFW photography. If I sold pencils and gave classes on how to use them for professional drawings, the pencils and my knowledge could be used to draw pornographic material.
I have decided not to appeal the decision, because even if I regained control of my account, it would just be a matter of time until they found another reason to ban it.
The money you all donated to me on Patreon (roughly $50 per month) has been the only money I’ve made, and has mostly been covering the cost of running zanno.se.
But let me be clear: experimenting, developing, and writing about AI was never about the money. I have done this completely for free since before I started my Patreon, and I will continue doing it for free.
I am actually losing both money and a lot of time to keep doing what I’m doing. For now, I’ve added the option to help supporting my research and this website through Stripe. At the time of writing this, only one-time donations are supported. The amount is pre-set to $10 but can be changed to any amount.
I will explore how I can setup Stripe as a monthly and ongoing subscription as well as the option to purchase exclusive nodes and workflows.