Stripe has issued an apology after its staff told customers it would no longer process payments for LGBTQ+ related content or goods. The Irish-American firm provides financial services for a range of businesses, enabling transactions between buyers and sellers across the globe.

Stripe has not allowed its use for purchasing adult content online for years. However, according to reports on social media on Wednesday, August 13, staff were telling customers that the ban now extends to all LGBTQ+ content, regardless of whether it is explicit in nature.

One Bluesky user shared, “twice today, when pressured, Stripe operators have said, plainly, that i cannot use stripe for the purchase of LGBTQ content. Not just adult content, but explicitly LGBTQ.”

They added, “to be clear, i was very clear in asking ‘can i use stripe for purchases of LGBT content’ and both times, different operators have told me that Stripe does not support such transactions”.

twice today, when pressured, Stripe operators have said, plainly, that i cannot use stripe for the purchase of LGBTQ content. not just adult content, but explicitly LGBTQ.

— Dieselbrain (@dieselbrain.bsky.social) 2025-08-12T19:33:18.759Z

In one clip shared on social media, a worker told a caller that the new restriction had been in place for about a month. They then backtracked and said that content would only be banned if it was “abusive”.

“The information given by our support team was totally wrong,” a spokesperson for the Irish-American firm told the BBC.

“Stripe has no prohibitions on the sale of LGBTQ+ content or goods. We’re looking into this and making sure future inquiries are answered correctly,” the spokesperson added.

This comes after Stripe, along with Visa and Mastercard, pressured gaming platforms Itch.io and Steam into removing legal adult content from their offerings, pandering to a request from a right-wing anti-pornography group. The decision sparked backlash, with concerns raised over how other Stripe services might be affected.

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