Kickstarter is the latest platform to fold under payment processor pressure, rolling out a sweeping adult content ban it says was drawn up “in partnership with Stripe.” Unusually candid wording for a policy that will effectively evict a significant chunk of adult creators from the platform, and, going by its own existing rules, a fair number of sextech companies too.
Online creators have been discussing a new “Mature Content Creator Guide” that Kickstarter recently reportedly sent to some users, warning them that the platform will no longer tolerate sexually explicit content being sold or showcased on the platform. The document was reportedly sent to comic art creators, but Kickstarter’s community rules also raise the prospect of a clampdown on sextech devices.
The Mature Content Creator Guide has not been officially made public, but Bleeding Cool reported that the document warned users against projects “where the primary value offered is access to explicit content”. The guide reportedly outlined that porn and sexually explicit content would now be prohibited on Kickstarter, and that blurring or otherwise censoring such content would not be enough to have it OK-ed.
Kickstarter users reported that the platform said the new rules were drawn up “in partnership with Stripe, our payments processor”. Companies like Stripe, along with various other global financial companies including major credit cards, often view adult content-related businesses as ‘high-risk’ for activities such as fraud.
In 2020, Mastercard and Visa stopped allowing payment through their systems on Pornhub, the world’s biggest porn site. Then in 2022 both the payment services were pulled from the main advertising network used by Pornhub’s then-parent company, MindGeek.
According to Kickstarter’s new rules, projects that “distribute or enable distribution of pornographic content” are now not allowed on the platform. Images showing “nudity inclusive of female nipples/areolas, genitalia, anuses, gluteal cleft (buttocks) where genitalia is the primary focus” are also now banned.
Kickstarter also now reportedly bans “implied nudity where the subject is wearing lingerie, fetish wear, or clothing that is see-through or very tight and shows human genitalia, the anus, or the nipple/areola of female breasts.”
NSFW comic artists take the hit first
The news has sent ripples through the NSFW comic art community, many members of which regularly used Kickstarter for sales and community-building. Now, under the new rules, artwork simply depicting a human character wearing a racy leather costume would likely present a ban risk.
Comic artist Ro Salarian said that the change effectively signaled Kickstarter “officially banning adult content now”. They added: “Knew this was coming, but it still sucks to have yet another part of the internet that I’ve been explicitly evicted from. Digital gentrification is exhausting.”
Mike Wolfer, a veteran comic artist and writer, addressed Kickstarter directly. He said: “This is not only going to absolutely cripple my business, but it will affect countless other creators. It also goes without saying that this is going to create a loss to Kickstarter of millions of dollars in revenue annually.”
Wolfer added that “the only reason this is happening is because of the puritanical demands of Stripe. I am simply beside myself. You have devastated my business with one email, a business that I have built since 2014, in partnership with Kickstarter.”
Kickstarter’s crackdown is part of a trend of online spaces bending the knee to financial firms often reluctant to provide full services to companies aligned with sex and adult content, which they often see as at risk of association with vice.
In 2025 the game streaming platform Steam quietly introduced rules banning content that breaches the rules of the financial organizations it deals with, with specific focus on “adult only content”. Also in 2025, itch.io temporarily removed all adult NSFW games from its streaming service following pressure to comply with credit card company rules.
Violet Blue, who writes the Threat Model digital security and public health newsletter, said of the Kickstarter rule change: “The whole thing is extremely ominous to me… when Stripe can strong-arm any company or distributor into banning content that conservatives don’t like.”
The sextech problem Kickstarter hasn’t solved
Kickstarter’s new Mature Content Creator Guide may seem to be targeting comic artists, but the current wording of the company’s ‘Our Rules’ policy run-down also raises questions about its hosting of sextech device pages.
According to the policies, any Kickstarter project that offers rewards including those “being created for sexual pleasure” will be banned. Kickstarter adds that “any project that seeks funding for receiving or providing sexual services or spaces that offer sexual services” will also be banned.
The platform also states that sexual wellness products that “are explicitly designed for sexual stimulation through insertion or penetration, or are intended to have body parts inserted into them” will not be allowed.
Kickstarter says that it will allow sexual wellness products “that are not designed for insertion or penetration and are not marketed primarily for sexual gratification”, such as “lubricants, nipple jewelry, and other intimate items such as bras and underwear”.
Despite these extremely clear rules, various sextech products quite clearly designed to have body parts inserted into them, or to be inserted into body parts, are still kicking about on Kickstarter.
The Handy 2 penis stroker, by the Norway-based company Ohdoki, was recently launched with a Kickstarter campaign that has garnered over $1.5 million in pledges, with customers signing up for the device’s retail packages. As of May 13, 2026, the device’s Kickstarter page was still very much live.
Groove Thing (pictured above), a sextech device recently marketed as “the world’s first internal music player”, was also still live on Kickstarter, having clocked up over $500,000 in pledges. MYHIXEL, which sells penile rings and masturbators, also has an active Kickstarter presence.
Thankfully, despite these policies, a sextech device purge is seemingly yet to take place on Kickstarter. But it’d be understandable if firms like these were beginning to get extremely twitchy, along with the comic artists, as the tech kowtowing to financial companies continues.
