Furries, spankos, and assorted kinksters, join the fight today to protect our communities from censorship!

It's been so easy to do that I feel foolish for not thinking of working a phone call to a representative into my daily routine before.

(Skip to the end for links & contacts.)

In the past few weeks, online gaming platforms including Itch.io & Steam suddenly removed & de-indexed (made un-searchable) games and other art tagged as 'adult' with no warning. This impacted NSFW pieces as well as those that only just happened to have queer characters or inclusive language (such as the Hayseed Knight).

Additionally, some creators said they had funds withheld upon being removed. They were told they were ineligible for payouts because they had violated site policy — which site owners had changed overnight. The sites claimed that payment processors (namely Visa, Paypal, Stripe, & Mastercard) threatened to remove their service from sites that did not comply with their demands to censor adult content.

The ultimatum came after a conservative extremist group in Austrialia known as 'Collective Shout' encouraged a measley 1000 people to call in and complain about distribution of "immoral" materials.

Facing huge backlash, the payment processors have continued to double down. At first, they were only removing the creators, but now, they have started to include customers & commissioners of NSFW materials, like the furry art we all love. This is blatant censorship & an infringement on human rights.

THE GOOD NEWS!

We are starting to see results. Even polite callers have reported being verbally harassed & hung up on by customer service agents due to the extreme pressure the situation is placing on their call centers.

Time wasted is their money wasted!

In addition, major news outlets are starting to pick up on the news, meaning even more pressure on the payment processors. The increasing censorship is consistent with an extinction burst -- bad behavior exacerbates shortly before giving up. But... we MUST keep the pressure on to reach our ultimate goal of financial freedom!!

If you've been recently feeling powerless to help stop the world from backsliding to the dark ages, as I have, please, join this fight to protect our freedom to produce, own, & distribute BDSM & LGBTQA+ materials.

We're finally seeing some evidence that our voice DOES matter -- when we all WORK TOGETHER. We need a lot of people to commit to doing this, as many days in a row as you can stand, for as long as you can, until the cost of handling our calls so far outweighs any financial benefit they go back on their policies. Even a single call helps!!

Think of it like a digital protest march that you can attend from your couch.

Thank you for reading -- use the resources below to continue learning about these issues from people much more informed than I, and get involved.

SOURCES, RESOURCES, ADDITIONAL READING

yellat.money -- resources, info, + phone numbers

stop-paypros.neocities.org - several scripts + phone numbers

Anti-Censorship Cheat Sheet - summary of events, instructions, contact info

PHONE NUMBERS TO CONTACT

PayPal (US): +1 (888)-221-1161
PayPal (UK): +44 (0203)-901-7000
PayPal Customer Service: +1 (877)-569-1116

Stripe (Headquarters): +1 (888) 963-8955
Stripe (US): +1 (877) 887-7815
Stripe (France): +33 805-11-19-67

Mastercard (Headquarters): +1 914-249-2000
Mastercard (US): +1 (800)-627-8372
Mastercard (US): +1 (800)-307-7309
Mastercard (Int.): +1 (636)-722-7111
Mastercard (AUS): +61 1800 120 113
Mastercard (UK): 0-800-96-4767

Visa (Headquarters): +1 (650)-432-3200
Visa (US + Can): +1 (800)-847-2911
Visa (AUS): +61 1800 125 440

IMPORTANT -- If you use PayPal or Stripe, but do not make a living selling adult materials, don't skip calling PayPal & Stripe! It is riskier for creators to reach out to these particular companies to complain about policies like this, so we really are extra-super relying on you, the commissoners and viewers, to get them to stop pressuring Patreon & other sites to remove adult & LGBTQ+ content. You fly under their radar much easier!

The script is basically the same no matter who you call.

BONUS - STOP KOSA!

The Kids Online Safety Act seeks to inflict the same age-verification laws that were just enacted in the UK onto Americans. It's been a nightmare for them and will be for us as well, should it pass. We've already seen Bluesky deny service to Mississippi, because they can't afford the software to comply with the state's new age verification law. Bluesky has millions of users. This is a sign that if this law comes to pass, in a few short years, the only content left online will be hosted by companies who can afford - and censor - the internet.

One more call a day, that's all it takes to stop this from happening. It will be harder to reverse than it is to stop.

StopKOSA.com -- provides simple script, instructions for emailing & calling, finds your rep, & even auto-dials them!

STOP THE SCREEN ACT & IODA

Please also tell your reps to oppose the Screen Act, which would require full age verification for sites like FetLife & FurAffinity that have adult media.

IODA (interstate Obscenity Definition Act) would redefine what it means to be obscene - the extremely vague definition they've provided leaves it open to gross misinterpretation that could potentially censor LGBTQA+ communities, like this one.

Opposing both is very easy -- lump it in when you call about KOSA.

Feel free to leave additional resources in the comments, there are multiple petitions, websites, and graphics going around. Thank you!!