{
  "id": 9742271,
  "title": "Forza Horizon 6 Dev Responds to 'Itasha' Car Ban Backlash, Says 'Explicit Sexual Content' or 'Sexually Suggestive Content' Is Forbidden",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/25/forza-horizon-6-dev-responds-to-itasha-car-ban-backlash-says-explicit",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-25T09:03:52.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "IGN",
    "slug": "ign",
    "url": "https://www.ign.com/articles/forza-horizon-6-dev-responds-to-itasha-car-ban-backlash-says-explicit-sexual-content-or-sexually-suggestive-content-is-forbidden"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Microsoft's Forza Horizon 6 dev team has responded to backlash over the game's Itasha car ban policy. Itasha, which translates to \"painful car,\" refers to custom-decorated cars often featuring characters from manga, anime, and video games. While players have created and shared Itasha designs in the game, some have faced bans due to perceived violations of the game's content policy. In an effort to clarify what constitutes banned content, Microsoft recently updated its code of conduct for user-generated content in Forza Horizon 6. Itasha-style designs are permitted, but explicit sexual content and sexually suggestive content are forbidden. The updated guidelines clarify that each piece of reported content is reviewed by human moderators, not AI. However, the new rules have received criticism for being too vague, with some arguing that they are essentially subjective. Players have reported being permabanned for creating Itasha designs with sexually suggestive content, even with just a single violation. The issue has also been compounded by the perceived age of anime characters in some Itasha designs, which may trigger censorship. Despite Microsoft's attempt to clarify the policy, players remain concerned about the strictness of the new rules and fear that even taking a screenshot of a banned Itasha could result in a permanent ban.",
  "summary": "Over the last few months, Forza Horizon 6 has received an outpouring of negative comments on social media and Steam about the game’s moderating system, which has been perceived as unfairly targeting players who create Itasha-style designs. To address this, Microsoft recently released an updated code of conduct in an attempt to clarify what kind of user generated content will get players banned in…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}