Credit card companies are continuing what appears to be a coordinated effort to censor Japanese artists.
The most recent targets have been Ken Akamatsu’s “Manga Library Z”, a website which hosted old and out of print manga as a method of archival and ad-revenue sharing with artists, as well as Melon Books, a Japanese book retailer.
Manga Library Z is being shut down entirely, unlike most websites targeted by payment processors, this time even Japanese credit card companies joined in according to Akamatsu.
「マンガ図書館Ｚのサイト停止に関するお知らせ」についてhttps://t.co/UmjE71Wzyf
私が14年前に立ち上げたＪコミ、現在の「マンガ図書館Ｚ」が、11月26日でサイトを停止する決断をいたしました。私は既に経営からは退いていますが、今回のお知らせの文章は私が代表して書いたものです。…
— 赤松 健 ⋈（参議院議員・全国比例） (@KenAkamatsu) November 5, 2024
After the credit card companies pulled out, the only active form of payment processing left to them was BitCash, which couldn’t sustain the site.
The decision payment processors made came after an ultimatum which criticized Manga Library Z’s “handling of adult content” on the site. Similar ultimatums have forced sites such as Pixiv and even Patreon in the west to harshly censor or restrict access to content based on geographical location.
Melon Books will thankfully be able to process customers using JCB and AmericanExpress. However Visa and MasterCard (the usual suspects for this type of censorship) will no longer be an accepted form of payment for the retailer.
Unlike Manga Library Z, Melon Books didn’t share the particulars behind their change in policy.
Payment processors such as Visa and Mastercard have been implementing what appear to be economic sanctions against adult artwork for years, despite no apparent legal obligation to do so. Speculatively, their decisions may be informed by rhetoric accusing such artwork as contributing to “violence against women and girls“, which is what one UN-affiliated committee had to say about anime and manga earlier this year.
