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Over the last few years, we’ve watched creators get banned from platforms like Patreon, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and others.
Platforms that, above all else, have little competition.
As such, getting banned from them usually means you no longer have access to that mode of interaction with people that you may have spent months or years building.
In Patreon’s case, this could mean your entire livelihood.
The traditional stance is that private companies are not compelled to uphold people’s rights of free speech or otherwise.
However, California’s recently passed legislation of SB-707 could change that.
The argument is that, when a platform like Patreon bans a creator, they are disrupting “the economic relationship between Creator and Backer,” which is legally considered “tortious interference with a business relationship,”
suggests lawyer Mike Cernovich, (who is perhaps most notable for filing the lawsuit that unsealed documents in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking case, resulting in Epstein being taken into custody).
Patreon can still ban whomever they want, of course, but Backers can dispute Patreon’s decision and have it be sent to arbitration, since they can no longer support their Creators and potentially lose the unique content that their Creators produce with the support of Backers.
What this means for Patreon, among other things, is that they have to pay the arbitration fees in advance, which can be more than $10,000 per case."
Platforms such as Patreon have been banning users, severing the ties between creators and customers.
reclaimthenet.org
