Kickstarter is walking back mature content rules after backlash

[Shawn Knight]

The takeaway: Kickstarter is rolling back a recently implemented policy regarding adult-oriented content following a negative response from its community of creators and backers. It's not a perfect solution, but rather a temporary fix to right a wrong.

Last week, the crowdfunding platform introduced new rules on the subject of adult content that were meant to give creators more clarity up front before launching projects. Instead, the revised rules had the opposite impact and reportedly clouded the category with more confusion.

COO Sean Leow said the decision to modify the rules in the first place was largely driven by their payment provider, Stripe, which operates on its own set of legal guidelines and compliance requirements outside of Kickstarter. This complicates how services can pay creators for mature content, and is the exact issue the updated rules were trying to address.

According to Leow, it's not uncommon for campaigns to get the green light by Kickstarter and then be suspended by Stripe mid-funding. In some instances, it can happen weeks into a project that the creator has spent months or even years developing. Leow said Kickstarter has advocated for such creators in the past and has had success in getting their campaigns reinstated, but they also realized there was no end in sight and that eventually, some campaigns would fail to regain approval.

By changing their rules and giving creators a single set of guidelines, Kickstarter hoped to close the gap between their rules and Stripe's. Instead, it left the community "vulnerable," Leow said.

To make matters right, Kickstarter is eliminating the new rules and reverting back to their previous guidelines for mature content. The company admits the previous way of doing things is barebones and not as specific as they'd like, and that Stripe can still suspend campaigns that have been approved by Kickstarter.

Leow described it as an "imperfect temporary solution." To better help clarify matters, Kickstarter has added a note about Stripe's policies and a link to their guidelines on their own rules page. The crowdfunding platform has also published a guide designed to help creators better understand what might trigger a review and how to present mature content to reduce the risk of disruption.

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Kickstarter is walking back mature content rules after backlash

 

[stewi0001]

I never knew there was "mature" content on kickstarter, but I never visit that site either.

 

[noblody]

Stripe is good with rules. they first enforce them, then they try (not very hard) to provide a way to compliance

 

[PXAbstraction]

Every time this prudish censoring of adult projects comes up, the name Stripe is always involved. I'm beginning to see the common point of failure here.

I don't even care about these kinds of projects, but given that Stripe seems to kowtow to these religious neo-puritan activist groups like Collective Shout without even attempting to put up a fight, you know that if there isn't pushback, this is only where it'll start.

 

[RudyBob]

I don't even care about these kinds of projects, but given that Stripe seems to kowtow to these religious neo-puritan activist groups like Collective Shout without even attempting to put up a fight, you know that if there isn't pushback, this is only where it'll start.

You care. I'm glad the envelope is being pushed by religious groups. We need more of that and less of the neo-pierced, neo-multi-colored hair, neo-crazies running things. Dignity and decorum always has a place.

 

[p51d007]

I've never paid any attention to kickstarter. If it is good enough, I'll wait till it shows up in a retail store etc.

 

[mountains]

I did try Kickstarter a long time ago. Terrible decision. I am still getting spam emails of all kinds based on that brief relationship. I should have used a burner email addy.

I keep fighting the spam, but many of the people that are trying to get rich using Kickstarter and Indigogo are also the same kind of people that give your email address to companies that do spam marketing, who then use and sell that data.

Also, just my specific experience, I did not get much value out of the things I bought. They just were not very good. This is a bummer because the idea of this kind of marketing was theoretically good.

 

[mountains]

I did try Kickstarter a long time ago. Terrible decision. I am still getting spam emails of all kinds based on that brief relationship. I should have used a burner email addy.

I keep fighting the spam, but many of the people that are trying to get rich using Kickstarter and Indigogo are also the same kind of people that give your email address to companies that do spam marketing, who then use and sell that data.

Also, just my specific experience, I did not get much value out of the things I bought. They just were not very good. This is a bummer because the idea of this kind of marketing was theoretically good.

 

[PXAbstraction]

You care. I'm glad the envelope is being pushed by religious groups. We need more of that and less of the neo-pierced, neo-multi-colored hair, neo-crazies running things. Dignity and decorum always has a place.

No, I don't care about these kinds of projects. I don't back them. What I care about is how this could (and likely will) trickle down to the kinds of projects I DO back. The "neo-" isms you cite shouldn't be in charge of things, but nor should religious groups trying to push their personal beliefs informed by their fantasy dieties on the rest of us. Keep your religion out of everyone else's regulation.