Niconico Douga, “Japan’s YouTube,” announced on February 20 that it has reinstated Visa credit card payments on its website. Visa cards were temporarily disabled on the site back on May 10 last year, making this the first time in just over nine months that users have been able to use this payment method on the platform (as reported by ITMedia).
Like YouTube, Niconico is free to use, however it also offers a paid Premium Membership that provides access to extra content and higher quality streaming among other benefits. Although users can pay for their Premium Membership through various other methods like PayPal and smartphone carriers, credit cards are one of the cheaper and more convenient options.
Over the past two years, several international credit card brands have suspended payments on Niconico, starting with some Mastercards in November 2023. This was followed by American Express in March 2024, and Visa and Diners Club cards in May 2024. The reason for these suspensions is believed to be due to the adult content that was previously hosted on Niconico.
Addressing the spate of credit card payment suspensions on Japanese online platforms related to fanart, manga and even an otaku dating site, Visa Japan’s CEO Cietan Kitney commented back in December 2024 that disabling card payments for adult content is “sometimes necessary to deny use to protect the brand,” even in cases where the content is legal.
Niconico seems to have been making efforts since last year to tighten up its policy on adult content and remove R18 videos from the site. The platform’s Terms of Use and Action Guidelines policies were revised on October 30, 2024, to include not only Japanese laws but also international regulations relating to the posting and accessing of violent and sexual content on the platform. Specific examples added to the revised Action Guidelines include “Content that appears to involve or depict the abuse, sexual exploitation, or sexual activity of children, child-like characters, or animals, as defined by the standards and laws of the country or region in which the content is accessed or posted,” and “Content that is or appears to be intended for or involved in excessive violence, suicide, self-harm, promotion of terrorism, or manufacture or sale of illegal drugs or weapons” (source: Niconico blog).
Since these regulations were amended, Niconico platforms have undergone various related changes. In November, it altered the name of its R18 category to the euphemistic “you know what” or “rei no sore” in Japanese (source: ASCII), perhaps to make its adult videos less findable by search engines. However, after that it seems Niconico Douga really started to crack down on adult content. In January alone, it apparently removed around 50,000 videos from the platform, likely because they violated the revised terms (source: Otaku Soken). It also shut down its adult-only manga platform, Niconico Shunga.
Criticisms from Japanese commenters seem to view the matter as Niconico “sacrificing” its adult content to appease international payment processors. It’s worth noting that although there is still some adult content on Niconico, the amount has been reduced, with the dedicated adult content side of Niconico completely removed. Many user-uploaded R18 videos contain tamer content than before (like ASMR, clothed gravure idols, and naked anime girls) with some supposedly “adult” videos having static images, and links to the actual content on external sites. Adult-oriented tags still exist on Niconico Douga though.
Although Niconico Premium Members can now switch back to paying by Visa, the company is “unable to answer at this time” about whether payment by other credit cards will be resumed.
