Sada Taro's Yurutto Manga Theater: The issue of credit card expression regulation has resurfaced, and the anxiety and impatience felt by manga artists from the uproar over Crysta and pixiv FANBOX

Sada Taro's Yurutto Manga Theater

``Credit card expression regulation issue'' has resurfaced Anxiety and impatience felt by manga artists after the Crista and pixiv FANBOX uproar (page 1/6)

It's October, and there are less than three months left in 2026. There were many rainy days this September, and I'm sure many of you felt disappointed, but in late September there were a series of events that made me anxious, as people like me who make a living doing illustrations and manga.

First, around September 22nd, a large amount of materials suddenly became private on CLIP STUDIO ASSETS, a service that allows users to post and download materials that can be used in the illustration and manga production software CLIP STUDIO PAINT. The operator, Celsys, did not give any prior notice to the poster or the reason for the posting being made private, and there were voices of dissatisfaction on social media about the response.

After that, some of the material was made public again, but personally, it seemed like all the suspicious material was made private and then scrutinized.

Meanwhile, around the 25th, many of the posted works on the community service pixiv FANBOX of the manga/illustration posting site pixiv were suspended due to new violations of regulations. Looking at user reports on SNS, it seems that items with sensitive words in the title were targeted, but the review process seems to have been quite sloppy.

For example, if the word "loli" was included, "calories" and "celery" were also rejected, which also caused complaints from users.

Suddenly, a large number of videos are closed to the public due to vague screening criteria...I've seen a similar uproar before. That was the game regulation on Steam that took place in July 2025. Sales of some adult games on Steam have been suspended due to requests from credit card companies and others under pressure from a non-profit organization called Collective Shout. Later, this regulation expanded to include genres other than adult games, and at the time I feared that it would lead to widespread regulation of expression.

In fact, the current uproar over the suspension of pixiv FANBOX did not only target sensitive words, but also words and phrases related to "criminal acts." Pixiv has stated that the reason for this is ``after being pointed out by the payment provider.'' The same thing that I was worried about with Steam may have happened.

Regarding the Crysta incident, when the ITmedia NEWS editorial department asked Celsys if the payment provider was the cause of the suspension of publication, they refused to answer, saying, ``We have no additional answer to give at this time.'' I want you to give me a proper answer.

Both Crysta and pixiv currently seem to be supported by many overseas users (see the manga for more details), so there may be circumstances in which they would not be able to give up if a credit card company etc. requested them. However, this time, the tools and community used by people who draw manga were targeted, and I felt as if I was being left behind. I am worried that if the movement to conform to overseas standards intensifies, the uniqueness of Japanese manga and illustration culture will be lost.

In the first place, even though it is legal, freedom of expression should not be lost due to unreasonable pressure from companies or groups steeped in specific ideology. I hope you can find an effective solution.

Sada Taro's Yurutto Manga Theater

A manga series in which manga artist Taro Sada talks loosely about hot topics together with the world's first cyber editor ``Remotan''. I'll probably post it over the weekend.

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