Steam Censorship of Adult Games Highlights How Payment Processors ‘Wield Immense Power That Even Nations Can’t Control,’ Says Japanese Politician

Back in July, Valve shocked gamers by suddenly removing numerous adult-only games from Steam to appease payment processors. Not long after, itch.io made a similar move in delisting thousands of NSFW games from its search results. Japanese politician Zenko Kurishita recently spoke out about the dangers of this abrupt censorship.

Although Steam and itch.io’s recent issues have brought awareness of payment processors’ sudden and vague crackdowns on adult content to a wider, international audience, Japanese sites have been dealing with these problems since 2022. In recent years, demands from payment processors have disrupted services like NicoNico (Japan’s YouTube), fanart platforms like DLsite and Fantia, and online manga/anime store Melonbooks, to name a few (as documented by Automaton). All of these platforms have had to remove adult content or temporarily change their payment methods, usually removing Visa and/or Mastercard.

Japanese politicians Zenko Kurishita and Taro Yamada have been among those bringing attention to the problems caused by these abrupt crackdowns by payment processors, highlighting that these measures against illegal adult content are so vague that legitimate NSFW content and its creators also get caught in the crossfire. Speaking to Denfaminicogamer, Kurishita pointed out that in the face of demands from payment processors, platforms “are forced to take arbitrary action without any explanation, which leaves them with no choice but to delete everything that seems suspicious. This results in mass deletions like we saw this time (with Steam).”

Kurishita stated that international credit card companies like Mastercard and Visa “wield immense power that even nations can’t control.” He highlighted that in the past, most censorship regulations were put in place by the government, which made it easier for the public (at least in democratic countries) to directly point out or contest any issues with such measures. However, the rise of the internet has turned payment processing into necessary infrastructure that online stores and services rely heavily on. “In other words, actions resembling ‘censorship’ are being carried out by private companies, not the state,” explains Kurishita.

But why have payment processors been cracking down on adult content anyway? Many, like Kurishita, believe that the “catalyst” for this crackdown was the various lawsuits brought against Pornhub since 2020 over non-consensual and underage videos. For example, in 2022, a judge in the U.S. ruled that Visa must remain a defendant on a Pornhub child pornography lawsuit. This seems to have resulted in payment processors being extra cautious about protecting their brands and avoiding situations in which their money transfer networks are used in the monetization of illegally-produced sexual content.

While Kurishita is for protecting real-life victims of sexual offences, he highlighted that the application of payment processors’ restrictions on adult content to fictional works like manga, anime, and games is problematic due to their subjective nature. He added that Japanese-style illustrations of characters tend to be perceived by westerners as ‘child-like,’ suggesting this may explain why platforms related to anime and manga have been targeted.

Another issue is that platform holders are typically given little time in which to respond to payment processors’ demands. Kurishita said it is common for platform operators to be suddenly notified that they won’t be able to use a certain payment method if they don’t remove rule-violating content. Moreover, these demands are often made by intermediaries, making it very difficult for affected platforms to find out exactly where the demand originated from. “Consequently, platform operators are forced to respond within extremely short timeframes (of one or two weeks) without knowing what specific content is the cause.” Kurishita explained. “This results in a ‘better safe than sorry’ approach, in which platform operators are forced to mass-delete content.”

This echoes statements made by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) in July, when the organization called for “greater transparency and fairness” in how games with adult content are moderated. It criticized how the sudden enforcement of vague rules impacts not only the games that violate payment processors’ criteria but also lead to the delisting of legitimate, previously-approved adult games. “The lack of transparency around enforcement criteria, sudden shifts in policy, and an absence of appeal pathways leave creators with no clear path to compliance or recourse," the IGDA said.

In addition to Kurishita, Taro Yamada is another Japanese politician who has been vocal in his opposition to how payment processors’ sudden restrictions have impacted manga and anime-related websites in Japan. In late August, he revealed on X that he participated in confidential, forthright discussions between representatives on both sides of the issue (including payment processors) to address the causes and work towards solutions to “what can be described as financial censorship.” Yamada revealed that they “made substantial progress” and will continue to “work to resolve the credit card issue.”

Photo by Dabe Alan/Future Publishing via Getty Images.

Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.