Most likely from the manpage:
If you use --will-cite in scripts to be run by others you are
making it harder for others to see the citation notice. The
development of GNU parallel is indirectly financed through
citations, so if your users do not know they should cite then you
are making it harder to finance development. However, if you pay
10000 EUR, you have done your part to finance future development
and should feel free to use --will-cite in scripts.
If you do not want to help financing future development by letting
other users see the citation notice or by paying, then please
consider using another tool instead of GNU parallel. You can find
some of the alternatives in man parallel_alternatives.
FWIW some distros remove the nagging message (e.g. mine - openSUSE - has it removed and the patch seems to come from Debian so i'd guess Debian and its derivatives also remove it).