Censorship by payment processors is a threat to free speech and art

Written by Eoghan O'Connell on 06 Aug 2025

Recently, digital video game storefronts Steam and Itch.io both removed numerous NSFW games from their catalogue. This action was taken in order to appease payment processors such as Visa and Mastercard and, while this action may seemingly have come out of nowhere, it only represents the latest stage of their crusades against NSFW media. Considering this recent thrust into the mainstream news, I think now is the time to look at this history of suppression, why it’s a problem even if you don’t like NSFW content and why we need to act in order to protect the present and future of freedom of speech and art.

I make no effort to hide the fact that I’m currently covering NSFW content for UK Anime Network, but my interest in this content is a relatively new one. One of the first things I did was to start looking for physical releases of these since I tend to prefer these over digital releases. However, it was during this that a shocking realisation occurred to me! There were hardly any stores that sold them! As I perused websites, it quickly became clear that it was pretty much only speciality stores that released these titles. Even sites that sold used content like eBay had stopped releasing adult content! But why? Why was this the case? Then I remembered a story from a few years ago, that of Crunchyroll’s acquisition of Right Stuf and one of the first changes they made.

Right Stuf had been a notable and popular storefront of Japanese adult media, so much so that they even had their own subdivision, Critical Mass Video, that was dedicated to releasing hentai for home video. However, one of the first changes that Right Stuf had to make once they were acquired by Crunchyroll was to strip all NSFW content from their storefront, even having to sell Critical Mass Video to Adult Source Media. This action was so chaotic that partners of theirs such as Fakku were caught off guard with CEO Jacob Grady stating “This is a massive blow, Right Stuf was a big account for FAKKU and one of the only retailers that really embraced 18+ anime/manga. Not good”.

While no explicit reason was ever provided for this move, it is highly likely that potential issues with payment processors was a major factor. Only a few years prior, payment processors had cut off Pornhub for hosting illegal content on their platform. Now, I want to stress that I do not condemn them for this action. The content in question necessitated a firm response from all involved but, even after Pornhub reformed itself by requiring videos to be verified and increasing moderation of content, we have seen companies like Visa and Mastercard continue to harden their stance and go after legitimate platforms such as DLSite and Melonbooks. Even OceanVeil, a new streaming service that is currently in beta, has faced struggles in supporting multiple payment processors due to the type of content they serve. 

This is inexcusable in a modern society. The precedent this sets is exceptionally dangerous as it allows private companies to dictate what content is available based on, and I really want to emphasise this, arbitrary "rules and standards" that are often left unexplained and nebulous. This form of power to be able to force another company to change their legitimate and legal business practices through economic coercion is a power that no private company should have. This is blatant censorship and is highly disturbing to see.

Now, maybe you don’t care for NSFW content so you might be wondering “why should I care about any of this?” Here’s the issue, where does this stop? If a private company can threaten others to remove content that displeases them, what’s to prevent them from going after other media that they don’t like? An anime series that I think is often underappreciated and that I find myself often thinking about is Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne. It is violent and sexual but it’s also intelligent and fun and something that I thank everyday for being made. It’s not hentai or pornography but how long until this work is similarly seen as problematic? To move away from Japanese media for a moment, the works of Lars von Trier are often brutal, raw and leave little to the imagination, with his 4 hour (5 ½ if you watch the director’s cut) film Nymphomaniac perhaps being the most prominent example of this with unsimulated sex scenes where the lower half of celebrities such as Shia LaBeouf and Charlotte Gainsbourg were replaced by pornographic actors and actresses. Will we see this film, which was often profound and willing to tackle subjects few others could, someday removed for not conforming to these payment processor’s standards?

Of course, I do not want to overlook the quality of the current targets either. It’s true that there is plenty of content out there that is unpleasant, I know I’ve seen my share, but there are also stories that touch our hearts or make us laugh. One of the funniest things I’ve read lately was Catching Feelings at the Final Showdown, an explicit yuri that deftly combined dynamic art and paneling with a story subverting the expectations of a final JRPG confrontation and sharp dialogue that ended up endearing you to the characters. I have seen how these works can make people cry or even give them a new viewpoint on a particular subject. If that isn’t what art is then I don’t know what is!

So now that I’ve said all that, the question now is what to do. One of the first things you can do is to sign this petition on Change.org. I’m always sceptical of the effectiveness of Change petitions but there’s no doubt that they can sometimes be effective and, if nothing else, this is a good way to draw attention to this issue and show that this isn’t a small group that is dissatisfied but a large one. It stands at over 200,000 as of the writing of this article.

In addition, government actions must be pursued. As Yoko Taro, the director of the Drakengard and Nier games noted in 2024 after payment processors temporarily forced Manga Library Z to shut down, “If payment processors are controlled, it could even be used for speech control in other countries.” and “It's not just about adult content regulations or freedom of expression; it feels like there's a security hole affecting democracy as a whole.” I have already contacted my government and I’m hoping, perhaps with too much hope, that they will listen and take my and other’s concerns into account. One thing you can certainly do is to raise awareness of this problem. Let people know about this and why it’s an issue that threatens free speech and creative livelihood.

I will continue to do what I do, to critically examine and cover adult Japanese content and show that they can be worthy of being considered art as much as any other media. Now is the time to act and you must make your voice heard! I have contacted Visa and Mastercard and will update this article with their statements in the event that they reply.