Pixiv is preparing to ban transactions involving products of a hardcore nature, including themes of incest, bestiality, and non-consensual sex, on all of its platforms.

As a platform, Pixiv is an enormously popular image sharing service from Japan. The online community was first launched in 2007 with a beta test, and soon become the go-to website for Eastern artists. In recent years, it has also grown in popularity among Western communities.

Aside from its main websites, Pixiv is also the owner of BOOTH and pixivFANBOX. BOOTH is an online marketplace allowing users to sell their goods through the internet. Meanwhile, pixivFANBOX is a service akin to SubscribeStar, allowing fans to easily support their favorite artists through continuous donations. Creators using Pixiv can also make money by using the request functionality, allowing fans to ask for specific works to be made whilst offering payment for completion.

The types of content that can be sold through Pixiv’s services are regulated by its Service Master Terms of Use. Today, in an announcement, Pixiv has taken notice that some transactions on its website include content prohibited by both its ToS and by the Brand Protection policies of card networks, providing examples of what content is not allowed by the latter. Examples listed by Pixiv include sexual exploitation of minors, incest, bestiality, non-consensual sex and/or mutilation of a person or body part.

Many transactions take place on BOOTH, pixivFANBOX, and the pixiv Requests feature.

Some were found to violate the pixiv Terms of Use, Article 14 "Prohibited Conduct", Item 26 "Using the Services to display, sell, purchase, register, or engage in other transactions involving the products set forth below".

Furthermore, the rules or policies of Brand Protection for Card Networks transactions for content that is patently offensive, unethical, or promote criminal activity; such as, by way of example and not limitation:

・Sexual exploitation of a minor

・Incest

・Bestiality

・Rape (or any other non-consensual sexual behavior)

・Non-consensual mutilation of a person or body part

Due of this, an update to the terms of service will take place on December 15th, 2022. The new ToS will become accessible ahead of time, in late November, so that users have time to delete content that doesn’t conform to the new rules, or to set such works as private.

It is important to note that, so far, Pixiv hasn’t published an exact list of upcoming changes. While the update will impact users selling physical products or content involving real people, it is uncertain whether it will affect artists using the website as well.

The mentioned Item 26 of Article 14 contains a sizeable list of products which cannot be involved in transactions. The list already includes “Products that contain images or other data corresponding to obscenity, child pornography, or child abuse.” Despite this, many artists creating works featuring loli or shota characters use Pixiv’s financial services. It is unclear whether the paid creation of digital art is considered a service rather than a product, or whether the rules simply don’t target depictions of fictional characters in general.

Currently, the Service Master Terms of Use Article 14 includes three positions which refer to products with erotic content:

4. Products that contain images or other data corresponding to obscenity, child pornography, or child abuse;

5. Products that contain uncorrected representations of exposed sexual organs or explicit images of sexual intercourse;

...

7. Prostitution and child prostitution;

Details about the upcoming changes are expected to be published before the end of this month. You can read the announcement in its entirety in English on Pixiv. The current, yet not updated version of the Service Master Terms of Use can be found here.

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