DLSite, a website that sells doujinsoft manga, video games, and more has seemingly been forced to refuse major Western payment processors Visa and Mastercard.

In recent years, websites such as Patreon, DeviantArt, and more have been forced to reconsider their content policies in order to comply with demands from payment processors. This effect is felt the most by creators who work with ecchi content and adult themes.

DLSite is one such site that has largely been considered safe due to its Japanese origins where Western censors have less influence. However, as of 2022, this began to change when Pixiv began enforcing stricter content policies on paid content such as commissions and fanbox.

Now, in order to not remove much of the content from their site, it seems DLSite has taken the proactive measure to cut out Western payment processors to protect the artistic integrity of their products. You can read their full announcement below.

[Important] To our customers using Visa and Mastercard

Thank you very much for your patronage of our services.

We regret to inform you that, as of 18:00 (JST) April 3rd, 2024, use of Visa and Mastercard will be temporarily suspended.

While this suspension is in place, please use an alternative transaction method or a different supported credit card brand, such as JCB or American Express.

We ask for your understanding of the circumstances and apologize for any inconvenience this may be.

PayPal isn’t safe either and has frozen funds from Kickstarter projects for nebulous reasons.

UPDATE: 4/4 – American Express is also now banned.

In the meantime, western content creators have been until recently been fleeing to Japanese sites such as Pixiv or less censorious alternatives such as SubscribeStar.