Games marketplace Itch.io to ‘deindex’ all NSFW games following pressure from anti-porn lobby group
Some of the top-rated NSFW games currently available on itch.io (Itch.io)
Some of the top-rated NSFW games currently available on itch.io (Itch.io)
Gaming marketplace Itch.io has announced plans to “deindex” all Not Safe For Work (NSFW) content following pressure from payment processors, who in turn were pressured by an anti-porn lobby group.
The platform, known for hosting a variety of indie games – games made by a small team or single developer – announced that content tagged as NSFW is no longer viewable from the site’s storefront.
A spokesperson said in a Thursday (24 July) statement that the company understands the action is “sudden and disruptive” and is “truly sorry” for the confusion caused by the change.
The move was reportedly made after payment processors, including Visa and Mastercard, scrutinised several gaming marketplaces, including Itch.io and Steam, and shared “concerns” they had about adult content hosted there.
Itch.io creator Leaf Corcoran said, as reported by The Verge: “Our ability to process payments is critical for every creator on our platform. To ensure that we can continue to operate and provide a marketplace for all developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate steps towards compliance.”
Collective Shout, an Australian anti-porn lobby group, put pressure on the payment processors in an 11 July open letter highlighting a video game featuring themes of rape and sexual assault. The organisation called for all NSFW games to be banned from Steam, Itch.io, and other gaming marketplaces.
Itch.io, which features over 4,400 LGBTQ+ games, says it plans to conduct a “comprehensive audit” of its NSFW content to ensure content meets “the requirements of our payment processors.” It clarified that all NSFW pages would be deindexed until the review was complete.
The announcement prompted considerable backlash from users and developers, with one saying the move is a “dangerous sign” for how payment processors could dictate how people choose to spend their money.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) criticised Mastercard and Visa for their actions against adult content, urging the organisations to end a policy that “unfairly targets the adult content industry.”
In a petition, which has over 93,300 signatures at the time of reporting, and ACLU spokesperson said that, while the policy is meant to prevent child sexual abuse material, it only targets sites that host adult content despite “all available evidence [indicating] that these problems proliferate across all kinds of sites.”
“In reality, all Mastercard’s policy actually does is make it harder for platforms to host adult content – destabilising the websites that sex workers use to make a living,” the petition continues.
