It has been a while since my last update on this petition, but recent news has prompted me to provide an update regarding the war against censorship... and Visa, Mastercard, and even the United Nations are not listening to us.

We’re sounding the alarm: major payment networks and international institutions are moving stealthily to restrict free expression online — and the arts are already in the crosshairs.

What’s happening?

• The credit-card giants Visa and Mastercard (and by extension the institutions that rely on them) are effectively demanding that digital storefronts curtail or remove content — especially games, adult-themed titles, and Japanese art titles — or risk losing their payment access. For example, platforms such as Steam and itch.io have removed hundreds of video game titles after pressure from payment processors.
• In Japan, a former assemblyman noted that the mechanism is deliberately “invisible”: platforms aren’t given clear rules, just told they may lose payment services if they don’t comply.
• Meanwhile, the art-sharing community Pixiv Inc. announced updated terms of service restricting content “offensive to public order and morals” after complaints from “international credit card companies.”
• On the international level, the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime (UNCAC) has been criticised for vague language, broad scope, and weak human-rights safeguards — raising the risk that the same infrastructure used for cybercrime enforcement could be turned on lawful digital art and expression.

Why this matters

Censorship rarely announces itself as censorship. Instead, it creeps in through payment denial, de-platforming, or “safe-compliance” policies by companies who fear losing access to gigabucks of transactions. When a film, a game, an illustration—for legal, consensual audiences—is removed because a payment service says it won’t process it, that is a serious blow to freedom of speech and artistic expression.

If the only choices for platforms are: “Remove content or lose payments,” then the artistic medium becomes subordinate to corporate moral or financial risk calculations. That means creators are no longer free; they are forced to self-censor or be silenced.

What have we seen so far?

• Major payment processors reportedly told platforms to remove large swathes of adult content or risk losing payment access.
• In Japan, game/doujin platforms that previously accepted Visa/Mastercard had to drop or region-lock certain tags or services — all triggered by payment-service pressure.
• Pixiv’s policy change: they updated terms to ban works depicting “child abuse, incest, bestiality, rape (sexual acts without consent), illegal mutilation … and other acts that are offensive to public order and morals” — allegedly due to “international card brand” demands.
• The new UNCAC has raised alarms because its undefined language around “cybercrime” might empower states or corporations to use “compliance” or “payment rules” to suppress lawful expression.

Why is this worrying

• When a private company like a payment processor becomes the gatekeeper of what content is permitted, the checks and balances of law go out the window.
• Even if you personally find some art or game offensive, the answer is not to remove everyone’s access. The easiest thing to do is walk away if you object. But you do not get to force everyone else offline.
• The slippery slope: once payment infrastructure begins enforcing “morality” or “brand risk” rather than strictly legal compliance, it risks expanding into mainstream speech, art, and politics.
• Global treaties like UNCAC may provide cover for states or companies to impose broader regulations — under the guise of “cybercrime,” “extremism,” “online safety.” The danger is that the original intention of free expression is sidelined.

What you can do

• Support creators and platforms that diversify payment options (so they’re not reliant exclusively on Visa/Mastercard). The Japanese example of a platform building its own payment method shows what resistance looks like.
• Raise awareness: many people don’t realise how payment gatekeepers can act as de facto censors. Keep spreading this petition around and spread the word.
• Demand transparency: platforms must disclose when payment-service demands or card-brand policies force content removal.
• Protect artistic freedom: making content legal doesn’t mean threat-free unless the infrastructure supports it.

Our call

All of us fighting for Free Speech and Free Expression believe censorship of lawful art, games, or digital creation through payment-processor pressure or treaty-backed regulation is unacceptable. The UN, the credit-card companies, and the platforms bending to them are, in effect, declaring war on digital freedom — on free speech, on artistic expression.

We believe in choice, not coercion. If someone is offended by what they see online, the path is simple: walk away. Do not demand the removal of others’ access. Censorship is wrong, whether it comes from government legislatures or corporate payment routers.

Let us invite more to join the campaign: add your name, spread the word, and fight for infrastructure that supports freedom rather than suppresses it.

Thank you for standing with creators, gamers, artists, and free speech everywhere.