Financial Censorship and the Love Affair Between Payment Processors and Anti-Porn Campaigners

Financial Censorship and the Love Affair Between Payment Processors and Anti-Porn Campaigners

Valve Corporation recently came under pressure from payment processors to purge Steam, the popular PC gaming storefront, of “certain kinds of adult-only content.” The news rippled across tech and gaming news media, even for adult entertainment industry journalists like myself. But if it weren’t for the reporting of Ana Valens (which Vice then deleted) then we…

The Whole Story Behind a Change.org Petition Started Against Videogame Censorship

A little while ago, something complicated occurred on Steam: many games were delisted with a new rule in the Steamworks. A new 15th rule has been added to Valve's platform, but the main problem is that it's quite vague and possibly dangerous regarding censorship. So, how'd we get here? On the 16th of July, Steam released an extremely vague rule — the type of behaviour the company can sometimes partake in to save their hide in the face of potenti…

No, Mouthwashing Wasn't Removed From Itch.io Due to the NSFW Purge

An incorrect assumption or a failed attempt to gather sympathy points and promote the game?

Aussie group Collective Shout claims responsibility for removal of NSFW games on Steam, itch.io

Though players insist that payment processors shouldn't be responsible for content moderation. Australian lobbyist group Collective Shout has claimed responsibility for the removal of not safe for work (NSFW) games from both Steam and itch.io. “We raised our objection to [rape] and incest games on Steam for months, and they ignored us for months,” reads a post from the group detailing a timeline of events. “We approached payment processors becau…

One of 2024's best games and a new horror classic has been delisted on Itch.io amid the payment processor crackdown on NSFW games

Mouthwashing no longer appears in search results on the indie-focused storefront.