Patreon Lets Cloudflare Block AI Crawlers, Not Search Ones
SVP Drew Rowny confirmed the July 1 policy: known AI-training bots get stopped before they ever reach a creator's page.
- Cloudflare's July 1, 2026 press release names Patreon among sites blocking crawlers at the network level.
- The block targets only known AI-training bots; search-engine crawlers still reach every page normally.
- Patreon's CEO restated the policy publicly on July 9, over a week after Cloudflare's release.
Why it mattersThe gatekeeper of a creator's work turned out to be a network company, not any copyright statute.
Cloudflare press release (quoting Patreon SVP of Product Drew Rowny) ↗ · Jul 10, 20267/10/26 · ✓ Checked✓ Check