Payment Processors Enforce Anti-Porn Content Crackdown on Steam, Itch Amid Lobby Pressure

A campaign led by Australian anti-porn group Collective Shout has pressured payment processors to stop facilitating transactions for thousands of adult-themed games on major PC storefronts like Steam and Itch.io, resulting in widespread delistings and payment disruptions. Developers and industry groups, including the International Game Developers Association, have raised concerns about the lack of transparency and fairness in these moderation decisions, highlighting that many affected games feature legal, consensual content often created by marginalized communities. Collective Shout's tactics, modeled after similar efforts by the U.S.-based National Center on Sexual Exploitation, illustrate how far-right anti-porn advocacy exerts significant influence over financial institutions, effectively imposing broad censorship on digital content beyond explicit sex scenes. This crackdown reflects ongoing tensions between adult content creators and powerful financial intermediaries, forcing platforms to prioritize compliance with payment partners over artistic freedom. Meanwhile, differing views on pornography within political circles, including President Donald Trump's MAGA movement, reveal complex and sometimes contradictory attitudes toward adult entertainment. The controversy underscores broader societal debates on censorship, freedom of expression, and the challenges of regulating adult content in the digital age.