It appears Patreon has learned literally nothing from its losing legal battle with the Bears:
Patreon — a platform that provides “content creators” with tools to run membership-based subscription services and earn a monthly income — is helping QAnon influencers monetize the dangerous conspiracy theory. And it appears the company is cashing in too, taking a 5-12{3aedcb51dac2fbb83a885d32b07950f3050377138d02430f831f0a3ede84357a} cut depending on the user’s payment plan even though the content seemingly violates the platform’s terms of use.
Media Matters has identified 14 prominent QAnon content creators on Patreon who are profiting by peddling the violent conspiracy theory.
Update (10/22/20): Following Media Matters’ reporting, Patreon announced it will ban creators that promote QAnon misinformation from using the platform.
At least now we have a pretty good idea what that $90 million in new investment money was intended for. But it was nice of Media Matters to spell the whole process out in public for everyone to see. And with over 4,500 backers behind them, I would expect that these recently deplatformed content creators can wield a considerable legal hammer if they are so inclined.
Some will argue that these deplatformings “don’t make any sense”. But that argument betrays an inability to recognize that we’re no longer operating in a Smithian marketplace here.
For a media empire operating at the highest levels, the influence it wields on the public’s mind is far more valuable to the ruling power structure than any self-contained profit that could be generated by optimizing their news product to suit the taste of the audience…. Just as a social media company’s true product is its user data, the true product of a major media company is the flow of narratives that shape the perception of reality. Wielding influence over the public mind will always be more valuable than any profit that could be generated by optimizing the news to suit public tastes.
This is information war, not business. It’s about control of the information flow, not maximizing profits or market share. And you’ll note that they ban Q, not unicorns, leprechauns, or perpetual-motion machines.