Japanese video-sharing site Niconico Douga has announced that it is being forced to restrict access to certain content for overseas viewers to comply with what it calls: “recent social conditions, international circumstances”.

Payment processors like Visa and Mastercard have been throwing their weight around to censor online retailers and service providers. Anyone who uses Patreon is likely familiar with this already, as many content creators have been compelled to move to alternatives like SubscribeStar.

Earlier this year, Japanese digital retailer DLSite and image-sharing site Pixiv were hit with similar restrictions at the behest of payment processors. Prompting restrictions to what sort of fictional artwork they’re allowed to sell.

For now, Niconico’s restrictions appear to be solely for international viewers, and restrictions will apply when a viewer’s “access is determined to be from outside Japan”. You can read the full announcement here.

On Wednesday, October 30, 2024, the Niconico Terms of Use and Niconico Action Guidelines will be partially revised.

Currently, Niconico’s terms and guidelines are set in accordance with Japanese laws and regulations.
With this revision, we will take into account not only Japanese laws but also recent social conditions, international circumstances, and foreign laws to ensure the continued operation of Niconico and the provision of its services.

Additionally, starting on the same day, October 30 (Wed), we will implement usage restrictions for certain services when access is determined to be from outside Japan.

We speculate that users will be able to bypass these restrictions with a commercially available VPN.