Censorship has been a hot button issue recently after payment processors, under the noise generated by the Australian pro-censorship group Collective Shout pressured both Steam and itch.io to censor adult content under the misguided direction of “protecting children” (tldr: it has nothing to do with “protecting children” and everything to do with censoring anything about sex, including queer media).
Censorship isn’t the answer
Why is censorship the wrong approach? First things first, censorship is never the answer because censorship is always a slippery slope used to control other people. Especially conservative groups like Collective Shout that claim to be “going after porn” but their definition of porn is anything they do not like (queer media, fictional content in general, consenting adults doing things with other consenting adults, sex education, female health care). But, more importantly, stopping adults from accessing adult content has nothing to do with “protecting children”, because there are no children involved in the equation when adult content is involved. Adult content is made by adults, for adults.
It should not be the government’s responsibility or a corporation’s responsibility to stop children from accessing adult content. It should be the responsibility of the child’s parent(s) to determine what content that child has access to. Never should an adult be stopped from being able to access or create legal content that they have every legal right to access.
Resources for Parents
If you are a parent that is unsure how to limit what content your child has access to, fear not, because I’m here to educate you. If you have Google devices (Android, ChromeOS), make sure you check out the Google Family Link Safety Center. For the Apple users out there, check out Apple’s parental controls.
If you’re tech-savvy you can set up Pi-Hole and then subscribe to DNS based blocking lists (to find blocking lists, I recommend checking out firebog.net and github.com/blocklistproject/Lists) to block a myriad of things from nsfw content to malware, tracking, ads, phishing, scams, and various other harmful things out there.
For those of you that are less technologically-inclined the easiest option is to change your DNS setting on your router (or your device, whether it’s a phone/tablet/laptop/gaming console/tv) and set it to Cloudlflare’s DNS service. Specifically the Family one that blocks both malware and nsfw content. The DNS addresses to set is 1.1.1.3 and 1.0.0.3
Petitions and Resources
Make sure to be vocal and tell the payment processors (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Capital One, Paypal, etc…) that you do not want them to decide what legal content you are allowed to purchase, read, watch, play, and create.
- Tell MasterCard, Visa & Activist Groups: Stop Controlling What We Can Watch, Read, or Play
- ACLU: Mastercard: Sex Work is Work. End Your Unjust Policy
- A site with info to help US-based folks contact their Congresspeople
- Another site informing people how to voice their concern against censorship
This post was originally published at JoshuaCasey.net on 25 July 2025.