eBay is no longer the free, limitless open market where you could sell anything to anyone. Their latest policy will restrict a huge chunk of ‘adult only’ materials, including games.
These new rules come into effect on 15 July, where eBay is essentially banning all porn-related material. While not all video games will be banished from the platform, games that are categorised as ‘refused classification’ (RC) or rated as ‘X’ are a big no-no. Games with nudity are also prohibited.
Other explicit paraphernalia the policy will affect include anime, magazines, movies, and more.
While this change is mainly aimed towards North America, Australia too will feel the impact of the incoming restrictions. Our own national ratings won’t be considered when evaluating the products, as the online marketplace will adhere to America’s instead.
What’s more, while ‘adult’ collectibles such as accessories, art, books, clothes, jewellery, music, and even sex toys are given their own loopholes within these regulations, video games unfortunately don’t make the cut.
Naturally, there was plenty of opposition. Although eBay will unequivocally ban all blatantly explicit, pornographic games, some titles can still slip through the cracks. Grand Theft Auto and Mortal Kombat are two key examples.
The digital marketplace platform attempts to justify the sudden change on their policy page:
“We want to make adult items available to those who wish to purchase them and can do so legally, while preventing those who do not wish to view or purchase these items from easily accessing them,” they wrote.
eBay isn’t the first company to make a move in rendering porn illegitimate on their platform. Steam has been receiving some heat regarding their adult listings, and the confusing ruleset regarding said listings.
folks, censorship is not the racist Dr. Seuss books being discontinued (bc they're still available to purchase and can be found online). let's not compare that to what's going on with eBay following it's predecessors with porn bans. c'mon.
— belpheytoad (@BelphegorsToad) May 16, 2021
