The mind behind Drakengard and NieR: Automata, Yoko Taro, has recently entered the conversation about Western credit card payment processors and their increasing influence over Japanese adult content platforms over the past year.
On his personal X account, Yoko Taro shared his thoughts:
Regarding credit card companies declining payments for legal adult content.
The publishing and related industries have long dealt with regulations extending beyond legal boundaries, but the ability of a payment processor, integral to content distribution infrastructure, to act unilaterally on this scale strikes me as exceptionally dangerous.
This suggests that by controlling payment processors, one could even suppress free speech in another nation.
In a subsequent tweet, Yoko Taro elaborates that “It feels like this isn’t merely about censoring adult material or undermining free expression—it’s a vulnerability that threatens democracy itself.”
This stance from the game director was likely prompted by reports that Manga Library Z is ceasing operations. The platform, which has safeguarded digital versions of rare manga for 14 years, first faced pressure from international credit card firms to remove certain manga titles and was later forced to end all payment agreements, leaving it unable to compensate its creators. The cited reason was transactions related to adult content.
Similarly, Japanese platforms for comics, games, and art such as DLsite, Skeb, Fantia, Pixiv, and Niconico have had to comply with censorship demands from payment processors and resort to alternative payment methods that most users rarely utilize (including cryptocurrency and Japan-specific e-money or convenience store payments).
Yoko Taro contends that the authority payment processors wield over platforms is perilous not just for the censorship of legal erotic media but also because it could enable nations to undermine the democratic systems of others.