Itch.io delists all adult NSFW content due to pressure from payment processors and Collective Shout
Itch.io has announced that is delisted and “deindexed” all adult NSFW titles from its store front, following similar steps taken by Valve’s Steam, due to pressure from payment processors, such as Visa and Mastercard, regarding NSFW content. The pressure has also come from the pressure group Collective Shout, an Australian charity whose stated mission is “challenging the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls in media, advertising and popular culture. We target corporations, advertisers, marketers and media which exploit the bodies of women and girls to sell products and services and campaign to change their behaviour.”
In a blog post about the removal of NSFW content, itch.io said, “We have “deindexed” all adult NSFW content from our browse and search pages. We understand this action is sudden and disruptive, and we are truly sorry for the frustration and confusion caused by this change.
Recently, we came under scrutiny from our payment processors regarding the nature of some content hosted on itch.io. Due to a game titled No Mercy, which was temporarily available on itch.io before being banned back in April, the organization Collective Shout launched a campaign against Steam and itch.io, directing concerns to our payment processors about the nature of certain content found on both platforms. Our ability to process payments is critical for every creator on our platform. To ensure that we can continue to operate and provide a marketplace for all developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate steps towards compliance.
This is a time critical moment for itch.io. The situation developed rapidly, and we had to act urgently to protect the platform’s core payment infrastructure. Unfortunately, this meant it was not realistic to provide creators with advance notice before making this change. We know this is not ideal, and we apologize for the abruptness of this change. We are currently conducting a comprehensive audit of content to ensure we can meet the requirements of our payment processors. Pages will remain deindexed as we complete our review. Once this review is complete, we will introduce new compliance measures. For NSFW pages, this will include a new step where creators must confirm that their content is allowable under the policies of the respective payment processors linked to their account.
Part of this review will see some pages being permanently removed from itch.io. Affected accounts will be notified via their account’s email address from our support address. You can reply to that email if you have any follow up questions. We ask for your patience and understanding as we navigate this challenging period. I’m sorry we can not share more at this time as we are still getting a full understanding of the situation ourselves. We will post a follow up on our blog if the situation changes. Thank you.”
Last week, Steam introduced a rule regarding NSFW content in response to pressure from payment processors. This rule says, “Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers. In particular, certain kinds of adult only content.”
Collective Shout claimed this as a win, following an open letter it sent to the CEOs of various payment processors including Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, Paysafe Limited, Discover, and Japan Credit Bureau. Collective Shout has stated that 1047 people sent emails to these companies about payments on Steam and Itch.io going to games depicting rape and incest, and credits this action as the reason for the bans on the platforms. However, the payment processors could also be using this as cover so they can show compliance with the US FOSTA (Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act) and SESTA (Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act) laws that passed in 2018, which could, in theory, make payment processors and platform holders liable for payments that could be seen to be going to products or content that breach those laws. Additionally, the UK’s Online Safety Law, which goes into effect on 25th July, will also require platform holders that host anything adult to have people prove their identity using ID and credit cards to access them.
Source: Itch.io
