Forza Horizon 6 Bans Japanese Players Over Itasha Liveries Amid Cultural Exploitation Accusations

There is no official confirmation of a mass ban campaign or automatic blocking of itasha liveries due to report counts.

Forza Horizon 6 fans are reporting widespread bans of custom car liveries in the Creative Hub. The sanctions are presumably aimed at works that violate the game’s rules, but according to the community, they are also hitting popular itasha—cars decorated with images of characters from anime, manga, and video games.

Two months ago, the Japanese publication AUTOMATON reported that several well-known itasha creators started deleting their works and refused to publish new designs. According to the publication, artists faced bans that prevented them from sharing their creations anymore. The issues affected more than just itasha, as players also discovered deleted liveries featuring automotive aftermarket parts logos.

This sparked speculation that some user creations might be automatically deleted after receiving a certain number of reports. There is no official confirmation of such a system, but some players believe that organized mass-report campaigns may have targeted user-generated content across several games in the Forza Horizon series.

Japanese players are now reporting a new suspected ban wave that likely continues incidents from the summer. This time, the sanctions reportedly affect more than just published works. Players claim that users are receiving bans for photographing itasha in-game and sharing the snapshots via in-house features.

Some reports sound even more unusual, alleging that temporary bans are hitting players who have kept unfinished works that were never uploaded to the Creative Hub. This specifically involves files with body lines and rough sketches that the system may have mistakenly flagged as containing nudity. However, no direct link between specific reports and subsequent bans has been officially established.

The situation has already started impacting the artist community. According to player reports, the temporary bans of prominent itasha creators are making other users more cautious about publishing their own work.

Certain fans also point out a unique trait of Forza Horizon 6 itself: the game sets its action in Japan for the first time in the series, which is the birthplace of itasha culture. Because of this, a portion of the community finds it especially contradictory that such a signature part of Japanese car culture faces restrictions precisely in this installment.

At the same time, players do not always understand which specific elements of custom liveries might violate the rules. Forza’s code of conduct lists prohibited user-generated content, including hate symbols, profanity, threats to children, defamation, impersonation, spam and advertising, personal data, QR codes, drug symbols and imagery, sexually inappropriate or provocative content, depictions of harm to people or animals, and other categories.

Against this backdrop, users are demanding clearer criteria for user-generated content. In their view, detailed rules would let creators know in advance which livery elements could lead to bans and reduce the risk of deleting works that the creators themselves do not consider a violation of the game’s requirements.