SDCC Coverage sponsored by Mad Cave
On Wednesday evening, July 24th, Digital Marketplace Itch.io was announced as one of the last fortresses for NSFW, adults and creators creating and selling erotic content. In some cases, the product has been completely removed. All of this was done without warning thousands of sellers and consumers. Many of them were discovered on social media before founder Leaf Corcoran explained the sudden change in developer posts.
Corcoran’s statement cited pressure from payment processors as a reason to remove explicit content of icch.io’s sudden pivot. Corcoran said Australian anti-porn group Collective Soute launched a campaign against both Itch.io and Steam in April if the two platforms did not remove games or other content that the group deemed inappropriate. Last week, Collective Southe praised the mass removal of games on Steam and the platform’s strict new moderation guidelines. At the time of writing, the group has not yet charged a similar credit for itch.io’s Takedown.
Itch.io has an adult content filter that you can toggle in your user’s preferences, indicating whether you want to see explicit content in search results or in store pages, but sudden, non-indexes of NSFW comics, genes, books, games and other published products means that you cannot access them unless the user links directly to the iconic product. In many cases, when explicit content is removed in large quantities, other content considered “obscene” by LGBTQIA+, furry, and conservative groups, are also listed or deleted, as reported in Transfeminine reviews. This is especially dangerous in an age where politicians and powerful (i.e., influential billionaires) actively dehumanize and disappear the trans people, immigrants, and those out of the line along the current regime.
As the situation unfolded Wednesday evening, some users claimed itch.io was denying payments to the affected creators via social media. Attempts to request funding for products purchased prior to Takedown came across the message “Accounts that violate our terms are not eligible for payment.” However, Itch.io has not yet outlined the new terminology. According to a statement from Corcoran, this is due to the speed at which changes need to be made.
“This is a time moment on itch.io. The situation happened rapidly and we had to act urgently to protect the platform’s core payments infrastructure. Unfortunately, this was not realistic to provide advance notice to creators before making this change. We know this is not ideal.
He continued. “We are currently conducting a comprehensive audit of content to ensure that payment processor requirements can be met. Once we complete the review, the page will remain modest. Once this review is complete, we will introduce new compliance measures. The NSFW page includes new steps that require creators to ensure that content is permitted under the old payment process associated with the account.”
Corcoran’s request comment could not be answered.
On Thursday, Itch.io will respond to users of Bluesky that they have not refused to pay the creator and contact those who were unable to process the payment directly.
Payment processors like MasterCard, Visa and PayPal consider adult content to be “high risk” for chargebacks and fraud. This means that when you buy and pay, you don’t like it, even if the purchase is completely legal. Pair it with targeting pressure from anti-porn groups like collective crying, and what outcomes are more and more hostile webspaces where creators (especially sex workers) are trying to make a living from the work. Journalist Anna Valence reported on the Collective Shout campaign and steam takedown. She has since resigned from her contract position on the site, with her colleagues and managing editors following her.
When payment processors threaten platforms like itch.io or Steam, they essentially get you back into the corner. This may sound dramatic, but the ability to handle money is the core components (if not core components) of these platforms. Regardless of the views of the people behind them, their ability to function as a business depends on following people with money and their guidelines. Groups like Collective Shout want to see sex workers, queer, trans people, and other marginalized creators who have been completely kicked out of the internet in the guise of “protecting children.” Following the revenue stream by targeting the platform you host is the most effective way to achieve this mission.
However, collective action on this mission is still possible. At the time of writing, the ACLU petition targeting MasterCard has concluded its discriminatory policy against adult content sellers. Reddit users also put together a comprehensive guide to reaching out to major payment processors, contacting Congressional people to support specific bills for those based in the US, and filed complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and the anti-trust division of DOJ.
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SDCC Coverage sponsored by Mad Cave
