Limit payment-platform blocking of adult content
Petitioners ask payment networks and platforms to stop blocking legal adult content, publish clear restriction rules, and guarantee creators a fair appeals process. The government responds it cannot regulate those decisions and urges contacting operators.
Why we would sign this petition
- Prevents payment networks or platforms from cutting off creators' payment access, protecting incomes and livelihoods tied to legal adult-content creation.
- Increases transparency by forcing publication of clear restriction rules so consumers and creators know what is permitted and why.
- Provides a fair appeals process so creators can challenge removals or penalties and seek restoration of their media.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- The government says it does not regulate payment networks' business decisions; mandating changes may be beyond federal authority or hard to enforce.
- Payment networks and platforms may restrict transactions for fraud control, compliance or risk reasons; forcing changes could raise legal, financial or security risks.
- Directly engaging operators or pursuing industry standards and platform policy reform may be more practical and quicker than legislation.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
Petition to the House of Commons Mastercard, Visa, and other payment platforms have been leveraging their power over consumer ability to purchase legal content; In 2021, Mastercard changed its policies to regulate adult entertainment by preventing the use of its payment platform on numerous adult entertainment sites; As of July 2025, video game distribution service Steam now cites rule 15, that “adult only” content is not permitted on the platform if it goes against payment processor’s policies. Steam does not describe what content is defined as “adult only”; As of July 2025, video game distribution website Itch.io has “deindexed” all adult NSFW content from browse and search pages. Users that previously purchased legitimate video games cannot access games that have been removed; and This has set an unsettling precedent of corporate censorship, causing concern in video game development teams, including developers, voice actors, and artists in other creative fields as their livelihoods are in limbo. We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, call upon the House of Commons to 1. Stop financial discrimination by payment platforms against legal goods and services; 2. Ensure transparency to consumers about content restrictions and the rationale behind them; and 3. Protect creators' rights to make legal adult content and ensure a fair appeals process for any penalized media. 1. Stop financial discrimination by payment platforms against legal goods and services; 2. Ensure transparency to consumers about content restrictions and the rationale behind them; and 3. Protect creators' rights to make legal adult content and ensure a fair appeals process for any penalized media.
Government response
Response by the Minister of Finance and National Revenue Signed by The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne The Government of Canada thanks the petitioners for expressing their concerns with respect to payment card network operator policies and their potential impact on the online distribution of certain video games in Canada. The government does not regulate the day-to-day business decisions of payment card network operators, such as Visa and Mastercard, nor does it oversee how video game distribution service providers interpret or apply those network rules. Each payment card network operator establishes and administers its own network rules, which govern the use of its payment network and related services. These rules may restrict certain categories of transactions or require enhanced risk management measures for certain activities. The petitioners may therefore wish to raise their concerns directly with the relevant payment card network operators, as well as with the video game distribution service providers involved.