Stripe says LGBTQ+ purchase ban claim is ‘totally wrong’

Online payment processor Stripe has apologised after being told employees were told they could not be used to purchase LGBTQ+ content.

In a series of online posts, the customer claimed that some of the US-based payment processor customer service operators said they were prohibited from using Stripe’s services to purchase LGBTQ+ content.

Gaming Marketplaces itch.io and Steam come after being pressured to remove thousands of adult video games from their storefronts under pressure from payment processors, including Stripe.

The payment processor owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk is best known for the online payment forms used by thousands of websites to facilitate customer checkout.

In response to concerns that the decision would affect age-appropriate LGBTQ+ content, adult artist Dieselbrain reportedly called Stripe’s customer service line to express his concern.

Write in Blue ski threadThe artist said on two separate occasions, the operator had said that customers could not use the Stripe service to purchase LGBTQ+ content.

“To be clear, it was very clear to ask, ‘Can I use Stripe to purchase LGBT content?’ In both cases, various operators say that Stripe does not support such transactions,” they write.

Several customers responded to the thread and claimed they had heard something similar from Stripe employees. One user is reportedly reportedly blocking Stripe from purchasing “implicit, legal, non-adult LGBT content.”

Independent Journalist Maddie Castigan She shared a recording of her conversation with one of the organization’s operators. He told her that the company had restricted LGBTQ+ content purchases to “three weeks ago.”

A Stripe spokesman apologized in a statement to Pinknews, saying the information provided by the support team was “completely wrong.”

“Stripe has no ban on selling LGBTQ+ content or products. We are considering this to ensure that future inquiries are answered correctly,” they continued.

Stripe policy Restricted and prohibited businesses We do not expressly prohibit purchasing LGBTQ+ content from Stripe Services. However, it prohibits the purchase of legal adult content through the services, such as “porn and other mature audience content.”

The company, alongside Visa and MasterCard, has pressured Itch.io and Steam to remove legal adult content after publishing a published letter from right-wing anti-porn groups.

The decision sparked significant backlash and concerns that thousands of companies using Stripe Services, including Amazon and Shopify, could take similar steps.

Concerns about the safety of non-adult LGBTQ+ content were also raised later Trans News Network I heard from the developer of a safe work lesbian game. He said they were influenced by the decision to “deindex” for adults’ games.

A spokesman for Itch.io claimed in a Bluesky post that the article was “full of misinformation,” suggesting that the original author was “confusing” about its non-indexing policy.