An Update on Payment Processor Issues

At the end of 2025, a few weeks before Christmas, the payment processor we had worked with for the past 11 years terminated our account abruptly, without any prior notice or warning. This was due to a fundamental misunderstanding of what anime and manga actually are, and new AI compliance systems built to detect malicious behavior that incorrectly flagged content on our forums from users discussing their favorite hentai genres. These events follow a broader industry trend where online platforms are falling under increasingly strict scrutiny regarding controversial content. Variations of these restrictions have already impacted prominent websites such as Steam, itch.io, Pixiv, Fansly, SubscribeStar, Fanza, Komiflo, and many more. Similar pressures even led to individual games being delisted from storefronts, most recently with the removal of Doki Doki Literature Club from the Google Play Store.

Hundreds to thousands of other unnamed or lesser-known adult visual novels… were delisted or "retired" from Steam in July 2025. Valve explicitly confirmed the removals were due to notifications from payment processors and acquiring banks that certain games violated their standards, risking platform-wide payment access. (The Guardian, 2025)

Combined, these platforms and websites cater to hundreds of millions of customers and players globally. With FAKKU being the world's largest English hentai publisher, it is unsurprising that we are among the first required to follow these rapidly changing guidelines around the world. Like those other websites, FAKKU has a responsibility to our creators and customers to make sure our platform remains available despite these changes. We are now collaborating with the thousands of Japanese creators, artists, and publishers we work with to ensure their work remains accessible under the guidelines we must follow on FAKKU. Other platforms big and small will inevitably be required to take these same actions, especially those currently carrying controversial content.

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. This is a time critical moment for itch.io. The situation developed rapidly, and we had to act urgently to protect the platform’s core payment infrastructure (itch.io, 2025)

As has always been the case, FAKKU will never impose censorship on any creator we work with. Our current goal is to inform creators about what can be sold on platforms like FAKKU, and to help creators navigate these guidelines as they change around the world. Sometimes the guidelines we are required to follow are entirely legitimate (after all, FAKKU will never break the law in the United States), but sometimes the guidelines are rooted in a misunderstanding of what anime, manga, and hentai actually are. In those cases we are working hard to educate the companies and payment processors we work with on the specifics of Japanese media in our industry and how they relate to FAKKU (and why tentacle hentai exists in the first place).

DLsite, a major downloading site that sells illustrations and other items, announced in April last year that payments with Visa and Mastercard would be suspended. In June, the Fanza Doujin fanzine website terminated Visa card payments, while Melonbooks Inc., which sells “doujinshi” fanzines online, stopped accepting Visa and Mastercard payments in December. The payment service operators have not given a reason for the freeze on the credit card use. Asahi, 2025

In time, our hope is that all forms of anime, manga, and hentai, no matter how uncomfortable the topics may make some people feel, can be enjoyed (and purchased) in the privacy of your own home. We are strong believers in freedom of speech and we believe that all anime, manga, and hentai are a protected form of speech, regardless of whether they are available on FAKKU or any other platform. Right now the burden is on the payment processors to decide whether something violates the guidelines put in place by the card brands, and that decision does not always align with what the card brands intended. This is one of the reasons you see so much volatility in the anime, manga, and hentai market depending on where you look.

Mastercard has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations. Our payment network follows 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 purchases, including illegal adult content. (Mastercard, 2025)

As an example of just how silly this can get, one of the primary comics that led to the issue FAKKU faced earlier this year boils down to a misunderstanding of what R18 translates to in English (it’s basically a “Rated 18+” porn notice). The comic in question was translated as “There’s No Such Thing as 18+ In This Parallel World!”. This was misinterpreted by the payment processor to imply that there was no one over the age of 18 in another world and therefore the content must be illegal! After discussions with everyone involved, this comic was able to return under the title “There’s No Such Thing as XXX In This Parallel World!”

What does all this mean for content on FAKKU? Our goal is that situations like the above can be resolved and any missing content can make a comeback. When it comes to additional payment options, we have already implemented direct bank transfers for all regular FAKKU purchases. Additionally, we are investigating implementing crypto, pre-paid cards, and a dedicated point system as alternative methods of payment, which will hopefully unlock more paths for FAKKU in the future. The comments and reviews, which have been disabled since December, will return soon with a few more guardrails. But for now, in place of our forums, I encourage everyone to come say hi in our Discord.

Multiple courts across the country have concluded that hentai has constitutional protection as material that is not obscene. For example, in Fenn v. U.S., a case in which an individual’s computer had been found to contain prohibited material as well as hentai, both the federal trial court and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals expressly distinguished “hentai images, which are legal to possess,” from material lacking constitutional protection. Fenn v. U.S., 175 F.Supp.3d 602, 606 (E.D.Va. 2016); see also U.S. v. Fenn, 554 F. App’x 133, 135 (4th Cir. 2014)( judge gave instructions explaining that the “[hentai] images … were legal”). Similarly, in the Air Force court martial at issue in U.S. v. Beehler, the prosecution itself agreed with the trial judge’s order that hentai is legal and thus “[a]t no time, should this court punish the [Appellant] for … the anime/hentai pictures.” The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, 2025

All that being said, supporting organizations like The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is one of the best ways to make a difference. As longtime sponsors, we have seen them on the front lines defending comics, manga, and graphic novels from censorship for years. They are in court regularly explaining the difference between fiction and reality when it comes to comics and manga. Most recently they helped win a major case in Texas against a law that would have forced many comics off of shelves. They defended an award-winning graphic novel having to prove its legality in court against incorrect claims that it contained obscene material. They won against a school official who ordered all manga (including books funded by an educational grant) removed from school classrooms and libraries based on their incorrect belief that all manga is illegal and obscene. If you are interested in helping to fight and protect comics, manga, and hentai, supporting The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is one of the best ways to do it.

Finally, and as always, I deeply appreciate your continued support. I promise we will continue our efforts to provide the best possible service on FAKKU. I speak for everyone at FAKKU when I say thank you. Your patience during this time has been incredible. These are difficult situations to navigate as a company and that patience has allowed us to resolve it to the best of our ability. I created FAKKU 20 years ago this year, and I’ve seen a lot of things happen over that time. Obviously situations like this suck, but we are going to do our best to resolve things here and help creators around the world continue to create hentai.