Founder of “Manga Toshokan Z” lawmaker Ken Akamatsu explains the reason behind the site’s closure， drawing strong backlash on social media with people claiming the payment processing company is “burning books．”

Manga Toshokan Z, an e-book distribution service that mainly sells out-of-print manga, announced that it would shut down its website on November 26th. This has sparked a flurry of criticism online, as the reason for this was pressure from credit card companies and payment processing companies. Regarding this incident, manga artist and member of the House of Councillors Ken Akamatsu once again explained the situation on his x account. Manga Library Z is an advertising revenue site that distributes e-books, mainly out-of-print manga, for free and gives advertising revenue back to the authors. There is a paid premium membership system, and server costs and other expenses are covered by membership fees. According to Akamatsu’s post, the direct cause of the site’s suspension was that the payment processing company announced that it would be “terminating all payment services, including payment methods other than credit card payments.” “All credit cards from all card companies, including JCB, suddenly became unusable, and all other payment methods (except BitCash) became unusable as well. On top of that, payments for months that had already passed were even withheld, and we were unable to receive any premium membership fees for that period (or any future payments), which meant we were in a situation where we couldn’t even cover our server costs.” After discussing the matter with the management staff, they decided that 1) it would be impossible to operate the site solely on BitCash revenue, 2) even if they found an alternative payment processing company, there was a chance that the same thing would happen again, and 3) they wanted to avoid getting by by deleting only some of the works. The decision was made to shut down the site. Akamatsu apologized to users, saying, “The period from notice to withholding payment was too short, and we deeply apologize for having ended up ‘giving in to the companies that control payment services.'” However, through this incident, accurate information that only the parties involved could obtain, such as 1) on what basis the company will declare the suspension of payment services, 2) how large the penalty will be and for how long it will last, and 3) what specific workarounds were available. The plan is to use this information in future investigations and hearings. Akamatsu said, “In recent years, payment services have been issuing unprecedentedly strict conditions and strong penalties, and if these are left unchecked, it is certain that they will become a problem not only for e-books, but for the entire Japanese content industry. As “the party that was actually forced to close,” we will come up with more precise countermeasures. I would like to ask for your support,” he said, appealing for support. ■Strong backlash on social media
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In August 2012, Taro Yamada, a member of the House of Councilors, visited Visa headquarters to meet with them about the credit card restrictions listed on the list, and received assurances that “Visa headquarters has never issued instructions that content containing specific terms (keywords) should not be handled,” and that “with regard to Visa regulations, the headquarters only determines the standards, and does not make any judgments (judgments are made by the field).” However, given the situation with Manga Toshokan Z, it seems that the attitude of payment providers is becoming more shortsighted and oppressive. Regarding the suspension of Manga Toshokan Z, Representative Yamada said, “At this point, I don’t know whether it was a decision made by the payment processing company or an instruction from the acquirer. “In order to protect freedom of expression and freedom of content trading going forward, we will need to negotiate not only with specific international brands (headquarters and branches), but also with the many acquirers and payment processing companies that exist within Japan alone.” An acquirer is a company that enters into an agreement with a merchant in Japanese. This refers to companies that obtain licenses from card brands such as Visa, MasterCard, and JCB and develop and manage affiliated stores. Following the news of Manga Library Z being shut down, criticism of the pressure to regulate expression has erupted on social media. “It is unacceptable that card companies can unilaterally engage in economic activities that should be acceptable under Japanese law, and that are tantamount to book burning,” “There is no way that a society can be normal in which it is justified to unilaterally kick someone out of the ‘market’ if they are deemed to ‘go against what are considered to be Western values,'” and “Attempts to preserve culture can be destroyed at the whim of a payment processing company…” “JCB isn’t allowed either…” On the other hand, some people have pointed out that “Docomo Pay” will also no longer be available along with credit cards, and speculate that there may be some other reason behind this rather than the logic of the credit card brand. What is a little different from before is that there are more voices raising questions, not just focusing on credit card brands, but also on domestic payment processing companies and merchant contracting companies. On the afternoon of the 5th, when the news of Manga Toshokan Z’s suspension broke, “payment agency” became a trending topic on X. Released on Wednesday, November 6th at 14:06.

「マンガ図書館Z」サイト停止の背景を創設者の赤松健さんが説明　SNSでは決済代行会社による「焚書」と強い反発（ITmedia NEWS） - Yahoo!ニュース

絶版漫画を中心とする電子書籍配信サービス「マンガ図書館Z」が11月26日でサイトを停止すると発表し、その原因がクレジットカード会社や決済代行会社による圧力だったことから、ネット上で大きな批判が巻き

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