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e-6695 (Consumer protection)

E-petition
Initiated by Carmen Tam from Waterloo, Ontario

Original language of petition: English

Petition to the House of Commons

Whereas:
  • Mastercard, Visa, and other payment platforms have been leveraging their power over consumer ability to purchase legal content;
  • In 2021, Mastercard changed its policies to regulate adult entertainment by preventing the use of its payment platform on numerous adult entertainment sites;
  • As of July 2025, video game distribution service Steam now cites rule 15, that “adult only” content is not permitted on the platform if it goes against payment processor’s policies. Steam does not describe what content is defined as “adult only”;
  • As of July 2025, video game distribution website Itch.io has “deindexed” all adult NSFW content from browse and search pages. Users that previously purchased legitimate video games cannot access games that have been removed; and
  • This has set an unsettling precedent of corporate censorship, causing concern in video game development teams, including developers, voice actors, and artists in other creative fields as their livelihoods are in limbo.
We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, call upon the House of Commons to
1. Stop financial discrimination by payment platforms against legal goods and services;
2. Ensure transparency to consumers about content restrictions and the rationale behind them; and
3. Protect creators' rights to make legal adult content and ensure a fair appeals process for any penalized media.

Response by the Minister of Finance and National Revenue

Signed by The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne

The Government of Canada thanks the petitioners for expressing their concerns with respect to payment card network operator policies and their potential impact on the online distribution of certain video games in Canada.

The government does not regulate the day-to-day business decisions of payment card network operators, such as Visa and Mastercard, nor does it oversee how video game distribution service providers interpret or apply those network rules.   

Each payment card network operator establishes and administers its own network rules, which govern the use of its payment network and related services. These rules may restrict certain categories of transactions or require enhanced risk management measures for certain activities.  

The petitioners may therefore wish to raise their concerns directly with the relevant payment card network operators, as well as with the video game distribution service providers involved.

Open for signature
August 26, 2025, at 12:44 p.m. (EDT)
Closed for signature
October 25, 2025, at 12:44 p.m. (EDT)
Presented to the House of Commons
Bardish Chagger (Waterloo)
December 10, 2025 (Petition No. 451-00369)
Government response tabled
January 26, 2026
Photo - Bardish Chagger
Waterloo
Liberal Caucus
Ontario