Credit Card Censorship of Anime, Manga, Games Prompts Japanese Politicians to Hold Meeting With Card Brands & Others

Taro Yamada, anime fan and a member of the House of Councillors for the Liberal Democratic Party, revealed that an internal meeting of the Visual Industry Strategy Promotion Research Group (映像産業戦略推進研究会) was held on August 25 to discuss issues surrounding censorship through financial deplatforming. The names of certain attendees were not confirmed, but the meeting included “international [card] brands, acquiring banks, payment processing companies, merchants, relevant government agencies, and others.“

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Yamada said on X, “We held an inner meeting of the Visual Industry Strategy Promotion Research Group to discuss the credit card issue. We gathered international [card] brands, acquiring banks, payment processing companies, merchants, relevant government agencies, and others to freely and openly discuss the causes of the situation that can be described as financial censorship, specific solutions, and other matters.“

“Under the condition that specific attendees and details would be kept confidential to facilitate frank opinion exchange, we conducted straightforward discussions. The perceptions of the stakeholders from their respective positions became much clearer, marking significant progress. We will continue to address the resolution of credit card issues.“

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The meeting follows numerous individuals, businesses, and content that have been deplatformed financially in Japan and abroad, stemming from pressure somewhere along the opaque chain between payment processors, acquirers, and international card brands. This has led to the prevention of transactions for, and the hosting of, certain types of content.

The controversy from this deplatforming comes from the fact that many of these transactions are for legal content, such as boys’ love works, graphic violence, or sexual material. It also stems from a perceived lack of transparency and inconsistent messaging as to the source and reason these directives to deny certain types of transactions are being issued.

Notably, following intense backlash against Mastercard last month after the removal of adult content on Steam and Itch, Mastercard stated on August 1 that “Our payment network follows the standards based on the rule of law. Put simply, we allow all lawful purchases on our network. At the same time, we require merchants to have appropriate controls to ensure Mastercard cards cannot be used for unlawful purposes, including illegal adult content.“

This conflicts with what businesses that have shut down are saying. A representative from Manga Library Z, a service that published out-of-print manga before its shutdown, told Nikkei in January that a payment processing company got in contact last year, saying that “certain international card brands were requesting the removal of content.“

This content included works with keywords like “molester, violence, and crime.” The payment processor told Manga Library Z that if these works (of which a specific list was not provided) weren’t deleted within three days, VISA, Mastercard, and other companies would potentially levy fines up to tens of millions of yen and suspend contracts with the payment processor (either directly or through a processor’s contract with their affliated acquiring bank).

Manga Library Z shut down in November 2024 as a result, and was relaunched through crowdfunding in April 2025, notably without accepting VISA or Mastercard (Denfaminicogamer).

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Despite international card companies carrying the risk of reputational damage in the event of a moral panic over works with certain themes, Mastercard’s public stance of allowing all lawful content naturally means that it should permit those transactions regardless, which gives rise to the confusion over the current state of content removal and deplatforming. Mastercard’s public stance also contradicts its terms and conditions, as it requires its customers to block conduct that may be legal yet damaging to its brand, as seen in Rule 3.7:

“A Customer [different types of Customers defined on Page 34] must not directly or indirectly engage in or facilitate any action that is illegal or that, in the opinion of the Corporation and whether or not addressed elsewhere in the Standards, damages or may damage the goodwill or reputation of the Corporation or of any Mark, or damages or may damage the integrity of the Mastercard system, including the Interchange System or other Corporation assets.

Upon request of the Corporation, a Customer will promptly cease engaging in or facilitating any such action. In addition, a Customer must not place or cause to be placed on any Card or any Terminal or other acceptance device any image, information, application or product that would in any way, directly or indirectly, have or potentially have the effect of diminishing or devaluing the reputation or utility of the Marks, a Card, or any of the Corporation’s products, programs, services, networks, or systems.“

Furthermore, as seen in Rule 5.12.7 – Illegal or Brand-damaging Transactions:
A Merchant must not submit to its Acquirer, and a Customer must not submit to the Interchange System, any Transaction that is illegal, or in the sole discretion of the Corporation, may damage the goodwill of the Corporation or reflect negatively on the Marks. The Corporation considers any of the following activities to be in violation of this Rule:

1. The sale or offer of sale of a product or service other than in full compliance with law then applicable to the Acquirer, Issuer, Merchant, Cardholder, Cards, or the Corporation.
2. The sale of a product or service, including an image, which is patently offensive and lacks serious artistic value (such as, by way of example and not limitation, images of nonconsensual sexual behavior, sexual exploitation of a minor, nonconsensual mutilation of a person or body part, and bestiality), or any other material that the Corporation deems unacceptable to sell in connection with a Mark.

Given the pressure to ensure compliance includes arguably vague expressions such as “patently offensive and lacking serious artistic value” or “any other material that the Corporation deems unacceptable to sell in connection with a Mark,” this suggests that deplatforming legal content is very much required under MasterCard rules.

Source: Taro Yamada X (formerly Twitter)
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