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Payment processors' bar on Japanese adult content endangers democracy (2024)

NieR creator Yoko Taro comments on the series of instances of Japanese adult platforms being pressured by credit card payment processors.

Drakengard and NieR: Automata creator Yoko Taro recently joined in on the discourse surrounding Western credit card payment processors and the pressure they have been exerting on Japanese adult content platforms in the past year. Publishing and similar fields have always faced regulations that go beyond the law, but the fact that a payment processor, which is involved in the entire infrastructure of content distribution, can do such things at its own discretion seems to me to be dangerous on a whole new level. Yoko Taro argues that the power payment processors are able to exert on platforms is dangerous not only in terms of legal erotic media being censored, but also because it can potentially allow countries to compromise the democracy of others.

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