Patreon has lost a lawsuit they filed against fans of Owen Benjamin, a comedian kicked off the platform due to hate speech concerns, and now will have to pay millions in arbitration fees. Last year, Owen Benjamin was kicked off of Patreon for violating their terms on “hate speech.” Benjamin then encouraged his fans to sue the site, given they had participated in, in legal terms, “tortious interference... 

A potential mechanism for punishing tech censorship has materialized. Nationalist comedian Owen Benjamin and 72 of his fans have won a tentative decision under California’s arbitration law, which was amended by legislation signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in October 2019 to put the burden of fees in disputes on the party setting terms. Prior to January 2020, Patreon’s Terms of Service encouraged...