On January 23, Manga Planet released a statement announcing that Irish-American payment provider Stripe cut ties with the online manga reading service due to its distribution of R18 content. Stripe was one of two payment options available on the platform, next to PayPal.
Manga Planet’s account with Stripe has been banned and suspended, and subscribers to Manga Planet (known as “Pass Holders”) will have to use PayPal to renew their subscriptions.
Manga Planet, which is owned by Japanese companies DNP Group and Fantasista, has a fair share of mature-rated content, as categories like “Spicy Romance” and “Mature” can be found at the forefront of its homepage. Removing these popular categories from its library in exchange for keeping their account with Stripe must not have sat well with Manga Planet, which caused the split between the two companies.
Pass Holders affected by the Manga Planet – Stripe split will still have access to their Manga Planet Passes until their respective expiry dates, but will not be able to renew them via Stripe once it expires. Likewise, aspiring Pass Holders will not be able to sign up for a new Pass using Stripe. Manga Planet mentions that though Stripe users will lose their Passes when they expire, it cannot guarantee there will be no issues once this occurs.
With Stripe no longer in the picture, Manga Planet recommends using PayPal (which is currently the only option) to sign up for subscriptions. Manga retailers having troubles with payment providers is nothing new, as Japan-based websites like Melonbooks, Fantia, and DLsite had both Visa and Mastercard payments for their services suspended last year.
