Kickstarter joins Steam and Itch.io in banning adult content as the crowdfunding platform seemingly kowtows to the payment processor Stripe. Within the past few days, the rules page on Kickstarter was updated to include very specific prohibitions for several different forms of NSFW and adult content.
Mike Wolfer, a writer and artist, says that Kickstarter emailed creators starting in March 2026, informing them that Stripe will "conduct its own review" of projects featuring "adult/NSFW content." If Stripe doesn't like what they're see, they "May decide that it's unable to support your project." Continuing, Kickstarter says that while projects may be approved by Kickstarter, Stripe may refuse to issue payments to projects before, during, or even after a campaign is successfully funded.
Changes to Kickstarter's rules seem to have been updated on or right around May 11. Previously, the rules forbid a rather generalized "pornographic content." The rules page now specifically forbids content such as "implied sex acts," "implied nudity," "female nipples/areolas, genitalia, anuses, gluteal cleft (buttocks)," and even "MILF/DILF" content.
Stripe was partially funded by Palantir founder Peter Thiel and Twitter's grim reaper Elon Musk. These two can best be described as extremely far right with deeply held beliefs in ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, and ultranationalism. If you've been paying any attention at all to U.S. politics, it probably isn't difficult to see how their views are reflected in this puritan push by Stripe.
In defense of Stripe, it is possible that they were pressured by outside forces besides Thiel and Musk. Politicians and pro-censorship groups have been increasingly the pressure on payment processors to go after material that cannot otherwise be censored due to free speech rights.
Back in 2025, a group calling themselves Collective Shout claimed responsibility for getting several adult titles removed from Steam and delisted from Itch.io. That pro-censorship group relentlessly pressured payment processors such as Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal. These payment processors then, in turn, basically told Valve and Itch to remove those sinful games or they won't continue to provide their payment processing services. Given that it's apparently Stripe that is pushing for these changes on Kickstarter, it's possible that no additional outside pressure was needed.
Kickstarter may have their hands tied on this one if Stripe is the service's single payment provider. For their part, Kickstarter seemed to be mostly fine with a wide swath of adult content, going so far as to launch a "Kickstarter After Dark" newsletter in September 2025. This newsletter provided a regular showcase of "the best adult-oriented projects" that could be found throughout Kickstarter.
