Financial censorship

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Financial censorship is the practice of major payment processors refusing to process transactions for entities that do not align with their values. Since these payment processors hold a dominant position in global finance with no widely-adopted alternative, this practice results in a strong chilling effect by making independent free expression that runs afoul of their policies financially unsustainable.

Notable incidents

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Steam

In July 2025, Steam, an online platform and digital marketplace for video games and related computer software and assets, added a new rule to their publishing guidelines against "in particular, certain kinds of adult only content", and proceeded to withdraw hundreds of titles from sale on the platform.

Itch.io

In July 2025, Itch.io, a platform for many indie games, delisted "all adult NSFW content" from their storefront. Later that month, they restored all NSFW games, as long as they're free. Currently, they are in negotiations with payment processors to start restoring some paid titles, but they have acknowledged that this will see some titles permanently removed from the platform.

Stripe, 2012

Stripe pre-emptively censored LGBTQ erotic fiction on Nifty Archive in fear of breaking user agreements with Visa and Mastercard. Some time later, they rescinded.

Wikileaks, 2011

Famous whistleblower Julian Assange was censored in what he called a "financial blockade."

"Visa and MasterCard stopped processing donations for WikiLeaks in December 2010 after the United States criticized the organization's release of thousands of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables from its embassies all over the world."

From Visa, Mastercard, Bank of America, PayPal, and Western Union.

Dem. candidate Nikki Fried, 2018

Wells Fargo closed the account of Nikki Fried, a Florida candidate, due to her advocacy of medical marijuana, which is legal in the state of Florida.

PayPal

PayPal has an extensive history with censoring content from individuals and organizations alike, including (but certainly not limited to):

COVID misinformation, 2022

In 2022, PayPal enacted a policy to target misinformation during the COVID pandemic by charging a $2,500 fine to individuals.

"The new policy, which said customers could have to pay damages of $2,500 for each violation, was supposed to go into effect on Nov. 3, the reports said."

Smashwords, 2012

The indie ebook publisher, Smashwords, was censored by PayPal for publishing explicit content.

See also

Collective Shout

External links

• https://www.eff.org/issues/financial-censorship
• https://www.change.org/p/stop-payment-processors-from-dictating-legal-purchases
• https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/987/text